Marine’s remains returned

Marine’s remains returned

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Nearly six decades after he was killed fighting in the Korean War, a Marine is going home to Kentucky. Donald Morris Walker was 19 when he was killed Dec. 7, 1950, fighting at the Chosin Reservoir in Korea, where outnumbered U.S. forces faced a Chinese onslaught in one of the war’s bloodiest battles. He was buried in an area that the Marines evacuated and that fell under North Korean and Chinese control. The United States was allowed to exhume the remains in 1954, but for decades they were buried at a military cemetery in Hawaii as an unknown soldier. His niece, Carolyn Stewart, of Louisville, said she wants her uncle to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery outside Washington.

Post correspondent killed

WASHINGTON — A correspondent for The Washington Post was fatally shot Sunday while on assignment in Baghdad, the newspaper said. Salih Saif Aldin, 32, an Iraqi who sometimes wrote under the name Salih Dehema for security reasons, was killed while reporting on the violence in the neighborhood of Sadiyah, according to a statement from the newspaper. The newspaper reported on its Web site Sunday that Aldin’s wounds appeared to indicate he was shot at close range. His body was later found on the street, covered with newspapers. He was the first reporter for the newspaper to be killed during the Iraq war, the newspaper said. Aldin began working for the newspaper in early 2004 as a stringer in his hometown of Tikrit, 80 miles north of Baghdad, and later moved to the capital, the newspaper said.

Bob Denard dead at 78

PARIS — Bob Denard, a mercenary who staged coups, battled communism and fought for French interests and his own across Africa for more than three decades, has died, his sister said Sunday. He was 78. Denard died Saturday in the Paris area, said his sister, Georgette Garnier. She declined to say how he died, but he had suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and cardiovascular problems. A fervent anti-communist who had worked for several dictators and monarchs, Denard was among a group of postcolonial French mercenaries known as “les affreux” — the horrible ones. He claimed he had the backing of Paris but was never given official support. Denard was twice convicted in France for his role in an attempted coup in Marxist-controlled Benin in 1977, and a later short-lived coup in the impoverished Indian Ocean archipelago of the Comoros Islands in 1995. He received suspended prison terms in each case. Denard was perhaps best known for controlling the Comoros behind a figurehead leader for most of the 1980s after a coup he led there. Bob Denard was one of about a dozen aliases that he assumed during his colorful career. His real name was Gilbert Bourgeaud.

Burned homeless man dies

NEW YORK — A homeless man torched outside a church where he had bedded down for the night has died from his injuries, police said. Felix Najera suffered burns to 40 percent of his body after being set on fire while sleeping in front of Bethany Christian Church in East Harlem, police said. He died Oct. 9. Israel Torres, 29, of the Bronx, was charged with attempted murder and assault in the Oct. 5 attack, police said. He pleaded innocent at his arraignment Oct. 8 and was held without bail. Charges against Torres have not been upgraded since Najera’s death, police said. Police had called the torching of the 49-year-old one of the most severe and senseless attacks on a homeless victim in recent memory.

‘Copper Chopper’ is found

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — The “Copper Chopper” is back home after being mistaken for trash. The motorcycle, made by workers at a Cabot heating-and-air company, was reported stolen from the Bikes, Blues & BBQ festival in Fayetteville this week. Employees built the motorcycle with copper tubing, tubing insulation, a refrigerant drum, a blower motor, refrigerant gauges, nut drivers, two squirrel cage blower housings and sheet metal. The motorcycle was picked up by someone who was told everything left behind was trash. Moore Heat and Air paid a $200 reward for the motorcycle, which won the creative contest at the motorcycle festival. “I am just glad that someone took it because it was cool and not just for the copper,” employee Sherry Mash said. “With so much copper theft going on these days, we were afraid that it had been scrapped for the copper and we would never see it again.” The nonfunctioning motorcycle serves as a mascot for the company. “It’s basically junk to anybody but us,” Dave Moore said.

Associated Press