My current issue of my VFW magazine presents a memorial in tribute to the SIXTY (60) Americans killed in

Afghanistan between April 25 and June 10, 2012.  Among them we have a brother from Las Cruces, New

Mexico; Staff Sgt. Israel P. Nuanes. May He rest in peace. Other news: Medal Of Honor recipient, Leroy Petry,

of Santa Fe along with Seven (7) other  Medal Of Honor  recipients will be honored at a memorial on saturday

September 1, 2012 at 1:00 p.m. at Angel Fire. All are welcome.

Finally, Un Hermano de Santa Fe has taken the time to E-mail me the following story;

You might remember a news story several months ago about a crotchety old man who defied his homeowners

association and refused to take down the flagpole on his property and the large U.S. Flag that flew on it.

Now you can find out who, exactly, that old man was.  Van T. Barfoot was born on June 15, 1919 in Edinburg.

In 1940, He enlisted in the U.S. Army and on May 23, 1944, near Carano, Italy, set out to flank German machine

gun positions, that were firing on his fellow soldiers. He advanced through a minefield, took out three enemy 

machine gun positions and returned with 17 prisoners of war. If that wasn't enough for a day's work, he later took