Bob Collins
Over the years, I’ve found, I’d get a lot more work done if I don’t drop what I was doing at Fleming Field in South St. Paul and run outside to watch Miss Mitchell taxi by and take off. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
War
You’re a member of the Greatest Generation and you arrive at the airport in Milwaukee after a long day at the World War II museum in Washington when you find this, as several Wisconsin vets did this week. Read more →
Lots in the online flagellation over the closing of Nye’s in Minneapolis, was a much more serious closing: The World Food Program has run out of money and has ended its role as an emergency relief provider to refugees in Syria.
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The St. Cloud Times profiles Debbie Larsen today as part of its series, ‘Scars of Service.’ After three family members took their own lives, she’s become a passionate advocate for suicide awareness and prevention.
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Justus Belfield, 98, of upstate New York, had his moments of fame this week when this picture of him saluting in uniform from his nursing home bed raced around social media. Read more →
This is the video that’s going to inflame Americans. Read more →
There are 58,286 names on a granite wall in Washington. They’re not there to honor the policies that put them there. They’re there to honor the people who were swept up and sent to Vietnam.
By now, we should have been able to understand the distinction. Read more →
If Sal Guinta didn’t fully understand being a Medal of Honor recipient when it was given to him in 2010, he understands it now, thanks to some of the 75 other living Americans who have a medal just like his. Read more →
It’s a fine line that businesses walk today when offering deals to veterans. Read more →
Sacrifice is not shared in the United States. More than six of every 10 Americans couldn’t even be inconvenienced enough to vote last week, for instance. Read more →
Neighbors in Newport, Minn., find a special way to honor a Vietnam War vet’s service. Read more →
They’re holding the funeral today in Hamilton for Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, who was gunned down while standing guard at the National War Monument in Ottawa. Read more →
As the headline from NBC suggests, the United States — or at least its media — can’t help but pat its northern neighbor on the head, treating it as a civic child. Read more →
Perhaps there’s another side to the story — the one that’s being told doesn’t make a lot of sense — but an East Grand Forks landlord is declining to say why he’s kicking an Iraq war vet out of an apartment. Read more →
George Smilanich of Hibbing has a lot of stories to tell about his three years driving a tank in World War II. But, not surprisingly, he doesn’t like telling them. That includes the one about how he earned the Bronze Star when he pulled a commander from a burning tank or about how he almost lost his feet to frostbite.
If you’re Brad Pitt, however, he’ll tell you, KARE 11 reports.
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