Last week, I noted the possibility of a plea deal in the trial of SSgt Frank Wuterich, the last of the U.S. Marines charged in connection to an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians in the village of Haditha in 2005.

(See here. All previous Wuterich trial coverage and Haditha links below.)

Today, the plea deal was reached. SSgt Wuterich’s defense team at Puckett Faraj says this afternoon:

Press Release, Aexandria VA January 23, 2012/12:45PM:

“No one denies that the consequences of November 19, 2005 were tragic, least of all SSgt Frank Wuterich. But the fact of the matter is that he has now been totally exonerated of the homicide charges brought against him by the government and the media. For six years, he’s had his name dragged through the mud. Today, we hope, is the beginning of his redemption. He has always publicly taken responsibility for the lawful actions of his squad that day, as portrayed in his interview with CBS 60 Minutes. Today’s agreement is completely consistent with everything he has always said. Which is that the decisions he made that day led to an outcome that was tragic and regrettable and he takes responsibility for them, but they were not criminal.”

The North County Times reports on the details:

Marine Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich agreed to plead guilty Monday to one count of negligent dereliction of duty, ending his trial on manslaughter and related charges for his role in the deaths of 24 Iraqi civilians in 2005.

“This was his decision and his decision alone,” Neal Puckett, Wuterich’s lead defense attorney, told the North County Times. “Staff Sergeant Wuterich believed this was the right and honorable thing to do.”

Negligent dereliction of duty is a misdemeanor punishable by a maximum of 90 days in custody and a reduction or forfeiture of pay. It was not immediately known when a sentencing decision would be announced.

The deal was announced in court early Monday morning. After the announcement, Wuterich shook hands and hugged his parents, who have been watching the courtroom proceedings since the trial began.

The agreement has been approved by Lt. Gen. Thomas Waldhauser.

The plea deal ends the six-year saga of eight Camp Pendleton Marines charged with criminal wrongdoing in the incident that took place in the city of Haditha at the height of the war.

A reminder of how the Left’s smear merchants tried and convicted the Haditha Marines in the court of public opinion — and got away with it:

Outrage came from around the world and from Washington, D.C., where the late Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha said he believed the Marines might have “killed in cold blood” and went on to say U.S. troops were overstressed.

The result was eight Marines being charged with crimes at Haditha, including four officers and four enlisted men.

Seven of those eight saw their cases resolved, some with the withdrawal of charges in exchange for their testimony, one acquitted at trial and others having charges dropped entirely.

Wuterich, a 31-year-old Murrieta single father of three girls, had pleaded not guilty.

Prosecutors appeared ready to strike a plea deal last week after a series of their own witnesses gave testimony largely beneficial to Wuterich’s position that he believed he and his men were under attack and responded in keeping with their training.

Puckett said his client continues to believe his actions were lawful, despite the civilians deaths, which Wuterich has repeatedly said he regrets.

“He has always taken responsibility for his and his squad’s actions that day,” Puckett said. “Today’s agreement is completely consistent with everything he has said, which is that the decisions he made that day led to an outcome that was tragic and regrettable, but they were not criminal.”

***

(Graphic via Defend Our Marines)

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Previous:

1/23/12 The trial of the last Haditha Marine: SSgt Wuterich takes plea deal

1/19/12 The last Haditha Marine: Trial update, prosecution collapse, plea deal in the works?

1/5/12 The last Haditha Marine: Wuterich trial update

1/2/12 Remember SSgt Frank D. Wuterich: The last Haditha Marine goes on trial

5/6/09 Haditha Marine update: Lt. Col. Chessani wins another round

4/23/09 Justice Dept. attorney: Murtha should be immune from Haditha lawsuit

11/19/08 Murtha Watch: Cut-and-run smear merchant wants immunity

8/23/08 When will Biden apologize for Haditha smear?

6/19/08 The fate of Lt. Col. Chessani, continued

6/18/08 Defining atrocity: Marines vs. the Haditha Smear Merchants

6/17/08 Haditha Watch: Charges dismissed against Lt. Col. Chessani

6/16/08 Haditha Watch: The fate of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani

June 5: Haditha Marine Lt. Andrew Grayson acquitted

3/28/08 Case dropped against Haditha defendant Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum

9/18/07 Charges dropped against Capt. Lucas McConnell

8/23/07 Charges recommended dropped against Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum

8/9/07 Charges dropped against Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt

4/17/07 Charges dropped against Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz

Let Freedom Ring reviews the Murtha Marine-smearing timeline.

Everything else you need to know is at Defend Our Marines.

At the beginning of the month, I told you about the trial of SSgt Frank D. Wuterich — the last of the Marines charged in connection to an alleged massacre of Iraqi civilians in the village of Haditha in 2005.

The late corruptocrat John Murtha and the New York Slimes convicted and hanged the Marines in 2006 over the case before a single formal charge had been filed. Murtha slandered the troops before the world, declaring that “Our troops overreacted because of the pressure on them, and they killed innocent civilians in cold blood.” Then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama unabashedly backed Murtha’s smears. NYTimes reporter Paul von Zielbauer initially filed over 30 stories on the case, which the paper had hyped as the “defining atrocity” of the Iraq war.

And then: One by one over the last six years, the Marines were exonerated.

April 2007: Charges dropped against Sergeant Sanick Dela Cruz.

August 2007: Charges recommended dropped against Lance Cpl. Stephen B. Tatum.

August 2007: Charges dropped against Lance Corporal Justin Sharratt.

September 2007: Charges dropped against Capt. Lucas McConnell.

March 28, 2008: Case dropped against Haditha defendant Lance Cpl. Stephen Tatum.

June 5, 2008: Haditha Marine Lt. Andrew Grayson acquitted.

June 17, 2008: Charges dismissed against Lt. Col. Jeffrey Chessani.

SSgt Wuterich’s trial has been ongoing the last three weeks.

Captain’s Journal has coverage here.

Defend Our Marines and our friend Sgt. Tim Sumner give a heads-up today that a plea deal may be in the works. The hearing had been scheduled to resume this afternoon, but was postponed until tomorrow morning. The LA Times reports:

Negotiations continued Thursday into a possible plea bargain in the court-martial of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, the last of eight defendants in the 2005 killing of 24 Iraqi civilians by Marines from Camp Pendleton.

At issue in the negotiations could be the kind of discharge that Wuterich will receive and what, if any, criminal charges he will plead guilty to.

Wuterich, 31, who was the squad leader during the killings in Haditha, is charged with manslaughter, assault and dereliction of duty. The dereliction of duty charge carries a lesser-included charge of failure to follow a lawful order.

The charges, if Wuterich were convicted on all counts, could bring a prison sentence of 154 years and a dishonorable discharge.

But the prosecution’s case has been undercut by testimony from two of its own witnesses that seemed to back the defense assertion that Wuterich was merely following orders and training when he led his squad into two “hostile” homes in search of insurgents.

Three other prosecution witnesses underwent stringent cross-examination by defense attorneys who doubted their credibility because of their various accounts of what happened on the morning of Nov. 19, 2005, after a roadside bomb killed one Marine and injured two.

The military judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, abruptly recessed the trial on Wednesday afternoon, instructing the attorneys to seek “other options.”

Jones initially set 8:30 a.m. Thursday to resume the trial. That was then readjusted to 1 p.m. Thirty minutes before the trial was to resume Thursday, Jones sent word that the jurors had been told that the next session would be 8:30 a.m. Friday.

Stay tuned to the Twitter account of SSgt Wuterich’s legal team at Puckett Faraj.

Wishing you all a joy-filled Christmas 2011!

Isaiah 9:2-7

His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this.

***

Vivaldi – Gloria: 1. Gloria in excelsis Deo – Trevor Pinnock – The English Concert

***

Fort Carson in my city of Colorado Springs welcomed home 200 soldiers from Afghanistan and another 100 from Iraq this week. God bless all our servicemen and women and their families this Christmas season.

Never forget those who made the ultimate sacrifice:

***

An explosion near a Catholic Church in Nigeria’s capital city on Christmas morning and the cancellation of Christian masses in Iraq remind us of the ever-present persecution and threats to followers of Christ around the world.

Please don’t forget those who have remained steadfast in the face of death — including apostate Pastor
Yousef Nadarkhani, who faces the death penalty in Iran because he refuses to renounce his Christian faith. As the ACLJ notes:

“Christian persecution takes no holiday.”

***
What are your favorite Christmas memories, hymns, and/or traditions? Share via comments or e-mails.

A newsreel of the Day of Infamy:

Five memorials will be held today for “servicemen who lived through the assault and want their remains placed in Pearl Harbor out of pride and affinity for those they left behind.”

Here’s the official White House statement on this solemn occasion.

An old salt remembers:

Ninety-one-year-old Constantine Socrates Savalas stepped on the stage at Los Angeles Valley College’s music recital hall and surveyed the younger faces before him.

“I stand before you as a witness to the destruction of ships and destroyers at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941,” said Savalas, briefly describing the surprise attack by the Japanese that killed 2,459 Americans and drew this country into World War II.

He paused, then sang in a strong baritone:

“There’s a grief that can’t be spoken.

There’s a pain goes on and on.

Empty chairs at empty tables.

Now my friends are dead and gone.”

His rendition of the tune from the musical “Les Miserables” is something of a tradition at the campus’ December music performance workshop concerts.

Savalas, brother of the late actor Telly Savalas, loves to sing and has attended the workshops for 18 years. He always chooses “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables” at the annual performance – his personal tribute to the people who died 70 years ago Wednesday in the event that devastated the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Fleet.

God bless our veterans and their families.

***

How the Obama daughters’ private school is marking the day: Asian food feast.

Happy Veterans Day to all who have served our great nation. Thank you for your courage and dedication. Thank you for our freedom. We can’t say it enough.

A special salute to Marines, who celebrated the Corps’ 236th birthday yesterday.

From the Boston Herald, a must-read account from one who served and sacrificed (h/t Jules Crittenden):

Lance Cpl. Evan Reichenthal, 20, of Princeton had dreamed of being a Marine since the seventh grade. He enlisted in July 2009 and by December 2010, he was in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, with 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines. This is his story:

“It’s a third-world country, very basic. It’s extremely hot during the day and cold at night. It’s deserts, emptiness, the occasional farmland.

“I was an infantryman. Our mission was to clear out the Taliban, hold what we’d gained and build infrastructure. Clear, hold, build. We’d get intel and we’d go out and get Taliban … You get used to being shot at. You just adapt.”

On Jan. 5, 2011, on patrol with his 12-man squad in Marjah, Reichenthal was thrown in the air when an improvised bomb exploded under his feet.

“I stepped on it and somehow I didn’t lose consciousness. I was conscious the entire time. I hit the ground 20 feet away. I landed and lifted my head up and my right leg was gone and on my left, the skin was hanging off the bone. My right arm was bent behind me and the skin was hanging off my shoulder … I knew I wasn’t OK.”

…“It puts life into perspective when you almost die—when you really almost die, not just your cell phone is out of service or something. When I walked again, it was the best feeling ever.

“Not a lot of people know what goes on anymore. They have no concept of it … They need to be reminded of what we do and remember what we do … There’s some guy out there, laying down, dragging his buddy to a helicopter.”

From the Department of Veteran Affairs, the 2011 tribute:

Regional observances to honor vets in your state listed here.

The president is laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Restaurants across the country are offering special deals/meals for our troops — listed here.

One of my favorite local military charity organizations here in Colorado Springs: Home Front Cares.

Also: The Wounded Warrior Project.

And: Soldiers’ Angels – Project Valour IT.

Never forget: We are the land of the free because of the brave. God bless all our servicemen and servicewomen.

Fourth of July weekend is a great time to kick off this year’s Project Valour-IT fundraiser, and we’re pleased again this year to be representing Team Marine.

First, a bit about what this great cause is all about:

Project Valour-IT, in memory of SFC William V. Ziegenfuss, helps provide voice-controlled/adaptive laptop computers and other technology to support Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Marines recovering from hand wounds and other severe injuries. Technology supplied includes:

Voice-controlled Laptops – Operated by speaking into a microphone or using other adaptive technologies, they allow the wounded to maintain connections with the rest of the world during recovery.

Wii Video Game Systems – Whole-body game systems increase motivation and speed recovery when used under the guidance of physical therapists in therapy sessions (donated only to medical facilities).

Personal GPS – Handheld GPS devices build self-confidence and independence by compensating for short-term memory loss and organizational challenges related to severe TBI and severe PTSD.

The experience of Major Chuck Ziegenfuss (pictured), a partner in the project who suffered serious hand wounds while serving in Iraq, led to the creation of this program that has used voice-controlled laptops to the support recovery and reintegration of thousands of wounded troops since 2005.

The leader of Team Marine, Wolff, who maintains the blog Howling at the Moon, has a few details about this summer’s fundraiser:

Held July 1-14, the Valour-IT fundraising competition will draw on blogging, Facebook, Twitter and other social media to raise money and awareness for the needs of wounded troops. Divided among four “virtual teams” named in honor of U.S. military service branches, participants will also use flyers, word-of-mouth and traditional media outlets to spread the word. The goal is to raise at least $100,000, which will meet increased demand for Valour-IT services through October 2011.

We participated last year, and thanks to your generosity, I’m proud to say that Team Marine came out on top. The “competition” is friendly though, because no matter who raises the most money between the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines, everybody wins, and those who make so many sacrifices for us have the help they need and deserve.

Click the link to get more info about Project Valour-IT, or the link below it to donate:

Click here if you would like to add your blog and participate in the fundraiser. On behalf of Project Valour-IT, thanks so much, and in coming days I’ll have updates on how we’re progressing toward the goal.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

June 6, 1944, 160,000 Allied troops landed along a 50-mile stretch of heavily-fortified French coastline to fight Nazi Germany on the beaches of Normandy, France. General Dwight D. Eisenhower called the operation a crusade in which “we will accept nothing less than full victory.” More than 5,000 Ships and 13,000 aircraft supported the D-Day invasion, and by day’s end on June 6, the Allies gained a foot- hold in Normandy. The D-Day cost was high -more than 9,000 Allied Soldiers were killed or wounded — but more than 100,000 Soldiers began the march across Europe to defeat Hitler. — US Army.mil

D-Day heroes who fought and survived remember.

Historian Paul Kengor remembers D-Day with Ike and Reagan.

President Reagan’s 40th anniversary speech:

And a classic from The Combat Report on how today’s media would have covered the 1944 Normandy invasion:

Taps

Day is done,
gone the sun,
From the hills,
from the lake,
From the skies.
All is well,
safely rest,
God is nigh.

Thanks and praise,
For our days,
‘Neath the sun,
Neath the stars,
‘Neath the sky,
As we go,
This we know,
God is nigh.

***

Engraved on the Korean War Memorial:

Pearl Harbor:

The Blue Angels’ missing man formation:

Words and men I’ll never forget:

“Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark.” – Cpl. Jeffrey B. Starr.

“He knew what he was fighting for.” – father of Lt. Michael P. Murphy.

“He felt that what we were doing was just and right.” – Charles Cummings, father of fallen hero Army PFC Branden Cummings, who died in an IED attack in Diyala, Iraq.

“I genuinely believe the United States Army is a force of good in this world.” – 2LT Mark Daily.

***

Stars and Stripes reports on how soldiers in Afghanistan are marking Memorial Day 2011:

Nearly a decade later, after more than 1,400 killed in combat, some U.S. troops paused for a moment Sunday to remember what brought America to Afghanistan and to honor the lives that continue to be lost, The Associated Press reports.

According to The Associated Press, Blackhawk helicopters churned through the night sky as a strong wind coming over Kabul’s surrounding mountains blew against the flickering candles that cast an orange glow on those gathered for the ceremony at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ headquarters.

Earlier in the day, those working there enjoyed one of their five days off a year from building police stations, dams and other projects in a nation torn by decades of war.

***

Remember the children of fallen troops.

And remember the Gold Star Moms and Gold Star Dads.

Arlington – Trace Adkins:

As I write this, it’s raining and I hear thunder in the sky, or it could just be the distant echo of Harleys:

WASHINGTON — The sound of motorcycles is filling the streets of Washington this Memorial Day weekend.

The group Rolling Thunder is in town for a motorcycle ride and demonstration. The ride itself takes place on Sunday, but on Saturday the group held an event on the National Mall with speakers and music.

The non-profit group’s mission is drawing attention to American troops who fought in wars and are still unaccounted for.

More about the Rolling Thunder organization and rally here.

Todd and Sarah Palin were invited and did join the ride:

Sarah Palin made a grand entrance at the Rolling Thunder biker rally on Sunday, wearing a black Harley-Davidson helmet and visibly enjoying herself as a crush of reporters and bikers swarmed her motorcycle.

Ms. Palin, the former governor of Alaska, was joined by her husband, Todd, who was wearing a matching helmet, and her daughters, Bristol and Piper. Their arrival at the Pentagon North parking lot turned the lazy Sunday morning into a celebrity affair.

Ms. Palin climbed aboard a chopper, assisted by a member of the Rolling Thunder staff, but was unable to move because there were so many members of the press snapping photos. Organizers eventually brought in police, also on motorcycles, to clear a path.

Some video is below. Here’s the money quote from Sarah: “I love that smell of the emissions!”

Al Gore and Michael Bloomberg unavailable for comment:

Update: Nice photos from today at SarahPAC.

(h/t HAP)

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

Somebody at the New Hampshire Women’s Leadership Summit developed a sudden nut allergy.

You’d think that if you invited Jane Fonda to speak at your event, you’d know what you were getting yourself into as far as possible backlash, but that doesn’t appear to have been the case at this event:

NASHUA – Following a community outcry, organizers of a respected women’s seminar have retracted their invitation to have actress Jane Fonda speak at the event.

With threats of a possible protest looming, Fonda will no longer serve as the keynote speaker for the New Hampshire Women’s Leadership Summit scheduled for June 10 at Nashua Community College.

Last week, several veterans spoke in opposition of Fonda’s public appearance in New Hampshire, calling her a traitor and anti-American.

“In recent days, we have heard voices in our community expressing moving objections to the selection of our main keynote speaker,” Dr. Annabel Beerel, founder of the summit, wrote in a statement issued Friday. “While the summit encourages public discourse and diverse opinions, we do not wish to cause pain to our veterans. In addition to the many outstanding presenters and panels scheduled, we are working on engaging a new keynote (speaker) for the conference.”

I was going to suggest that Sarah Palin or Michele Bachmann be invited to replace Fonda — it is, after all, in New Hampshire — but I doubt those ladies would agree to speak there at this point. To paraphrase Marx (don’t get excited Jane, I’m talking about Groucho, not Karl): I refuse to join any club that would initially have Jane Fonda as a keynote speaker.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

This is hardly surprising since we’re talking about the same university that invited Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to speak, but even still, words escape me:

Columbia University students heckled a war hero during a town-hall meeting on whether ROTC should be allowed back on campus.

“Racist!” some students yelled at Anthony Maschek, a Columbia freshman and former Army staff sergeant awarded the Purple Heart after being shot 11 times in a firefight in northern Iraq in February 2008. Others hissed and booed the veteran.

Maschek, 28, had bravely stepped up to the mike Tuesday at the meeting to issue an impassioned challenge to fellow students on their perceptions of the military.

“It doesn’t matter how you feel about the war. It doesn’t matter how you feel about fighting,” said Maschek. “There are bad men out there plotting to kill you.”

Several students laughed and jeered the Idaho native, a 10th Mountain Division infantryman who spent two years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington recovering from grievous wounds.

Pathetic, but predictable. The inexcusable treatment of Anthony Maschek by people who won’t understand or appreciate the US military until there are Chinese tanks sitting in the lobbies of their dormitories and suicide bombers in Schermerhorn Hall (and probably not even then) isn’t necessarily because he’s a military veteran — it could be because his name isn’t Bradley Manning.

**Wasn’t the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” supposed to open the arms of the left toward the military?

**Rhetorical question, no need to answer

Glenn Reynolds:

I note that this is also more evidence that “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” was just a lame excuse to cover for generic hostility to the military, something made clear by numerous speakers at the event including some Columbia faculty. I also note that in these days of constrained budgets and an angry, aware electorate, heavily subsidized sectors like higher education — and Columbia, despite its private nature, is itself heavily dependent on government subsidies — should think twice about appearing anti-American. It’s not the 1960s anymore.

Maybe we should add Columbia to the “defund-a-palooza” wish list.

I’ll close with an observation from Jammie Wearing Fool:

This is where we are now in America: People laugh and sneer at wounded veterans. Yet go and make fun of a liberal and it’s basically a hate crime.

**Written by Doug Powers

Twitter @ThePowersThatBe

An American war hero was buried yesterday. We will never forget:

Via Larry Alexander at LancasterOnline.com:

Standing by the grave of Major Richard D. Winters on Sunday, gazing at the American flag fluttering in the icy January wind, this reporter felt a profound sense of loss.

Winters, the Lancaster County native who rose to worldwide fame as leader of the Band of Brothers during World War II, died Jan. 2 at Conestoga Cottage hospice center in Campbelltown, Lebanon County, where he had been a patient for three weeks.

He was just 19 days shy of his 93rd birthday.

Winters’ death and burial last week were as private as his life has been of late, as his once robust health began to fail.

A public memorial will be held at a time and place to be announced.

Winters’ passing was not unexpected, but the finality of it is still difficult to grasp, both for friends like me and for the men who served under him.

“You could not find a better man than Dick Winters,” William “Wild Bill” Guarnere said Monday. “He was such a leader.”

Guarnere, who lives in Philadelphia, mentioned the current effort to erect a statue in St. Marie du Mont in France, honoring American army officers. The statue will be a likeness of Winters.

“It’s a statue to leadership,” Guarnere said. “That speaks for itself. Everybody knows about him, not only us who served with him.”

He was a leader to the end, say his fellow soldiers of Easy Company:

Even as Parkinson’s disease began taking its toll on Dick Winters, who led his “Band of Brothers” through some of World War II’s fiercest European battles, the unassuming hero refused, as always, to let his men down.

Friends accompanied him to public events, subtly clearing a path through the adoring crowds for the living legend, whose Easy Company’s achievements were documented by a book and HBO miniseries. His gait had grown unsteady, and he did not want to be seen stumbling.

Winters “didn’t want the members of Easy Company to know,” William Jackson said Monday of his longtime friend, who died last week at age 92. “Right up to the end, he was the company commander.”

Be sure to visit Major Winters’ CMOH website for a full recounting of his courage under fire at Normandy.

R.I.P.

A newsreel of the Day of Infamy:

A survivor on the USS Maryland remembers:

Charlie Webb was shaving aboard the USS Maryland on Dec. 7, 1941, when the call to report to general stations went out.

The Maryland was on Battleship Row in Pearl Harbor, and Pearl Harbor was being attacked by Japanese forces.

Webb, 92, who lives at the Holy Comforter House, said he didn’t even have time to finish shaving.

“I got one side of the face shaved,” Webb said, “and it was a week before I got through with the other.”

He said he heard machine gun fire just before the call to general quarters went out.

Webb said he thought since it was Sunday morning, “Somebody’s in trouble. They don’t fire on Sunday.”

He later found out the sailor firing the machine gun was the first to shoot down a Japanese torpedo plane. The man had been at his station reading a comic book when he saw a plane with the Rising Sun insignia diving in and began firing…

And a survivor on the USS Arizona reflects:

Navy veteran Louis Conter was a young sailor standing watch on the quarterdeck of the USS Arizona when Japanese bombers swarmed the skies over Oahu and attacked the U.S. Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor 69 years ago.

Within minutes that Sunday morning, the Arizona itself had exploded in flames, smoke and pandemonium. Conter was among the fortunate few hundred men to get off alive as the battleship crumpled and sank at its berth, taking 1,177 of its 1,400-member crew to their deaths.

The loss of life aboard the Arizona accounted for nearly half of the 2,390 Americans who perished at Pearl Harbor and other attack sites on the island on December 7, 1941, the day that drew the United States’ into World War Two.

On Tuesday, as he has for 10 years on every anniversary of the surprise attack, Conter, now 89, will lay a wreath at the shrine built over the Arizona in memory of the dead, including the sailor with whom he was standing watch that morning.

…Conter is part of an aging and ever-dwindling contingent of survivors still attending the annual commemorations. About 200 of the estimated 2,000-4,000 Pearl Harbor veterans alive today are expected to return on Tuesday.

There are only about 20 survivors left from the USS Arizona, and just five are healthy enough to travel, he said.

***

Flashback: Obama Gaffemaster Alert: The Pearl Harbor Bomb; Update: Video added

Obama 2010: Official White House Proclamation on Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Happy Veterans Day to all who have served our great nation. Thank you for your courage and dedication. Thank you for our freedom. We can’t say it enough.

The Military Channel has some excellent Veterans Day videos and tribute features.

A few years ago, I had the honor and pleasure of interviewing several Doolittle Raiders for Hot Air. Watch here.

The VA’s 2010 video commemoration:

A tribute to Bataan Death March survivors — the Battling Bastards of Bataan:

We are the land of the free because of the brave. God bless all our servicemen and servicewomen.