Daily Archives: August 17, 2010

They Never Stop Searching

Published August 17, 2010

Sometimes, just the press release is a great read. Here it is:

The Department of Defense POW/Missing Personnel Office (DPMO) announced today that the remains of a U.S. serviceman, missing in action from World War II, have been identified and returned to his family for burial with full military honors.

U.S. Army Air Forces 1st Lt. Ray F. Fletcher, of Westborough, Mass., will be buried Aug. 20 in Burlington, Vt.

On May 10, 1944, he and four others aboard a B-25C Mitchell bomber took off from Ajaccio, Corsica, on a routine courier mission to Ghisonaccia, Corsica. They failed to reach the destination and were officially reported missing on May 13, 1944. Two days later, French police reported finding aircraft wreckage on the island’s Mount Cagna.

The U.S. Army’s Graves Registration Command visited the crash site in 1944 and reported remains were not recoverable. It was not until May 1989 that Corsican authorities notified U.S. Army Memorial Affairs Activity-Europe that they had found wreckage of an American WWII-era aircraft and turned over human remains collected at the mountainous location. They sent a survey team to the site and determined the terrain was too rugged to support a recovery effort. In 2003 and 2004, two French nationals provided U.S. authorities with crew-related equipment recovered from the crash site.

A Joint Prisoners of War, Missing in Action Accounting Command (JPAC) team excavated the location in September 2005 and recovered additional human remains as well as more crew-related equipment.

Among other forensic identification tools and circumstantial evidence, scientists from JPAC and the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory used mitochondrial DNA in the identification of Fletcher’s remains.

This month marks the 65th anniversary of the end of World War II. More than 400,000 of the 16 million Americans who served during the war died. At the end of the conflict, the U.S. government was unable to recover, identify and bury approximately 79,000 as known persons. Today, more than 72,000 World War II Americans remain unaccounted-for.

For additional information on the Defense Department’s mission to account for missing Americans, visit the DPMO Web site at http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo or call 703-699-1420.

An Earlier Corsica Discovery:

Dear Brookline: I'm Leaving You

Published August 17, 2010

After a full week of labor, I finally finished moving from Coolidge Corner to Harvard Square. Here is my break-up letter to Brookline, inspired by Candice Reed’s “Dear John” to California.

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Dear Brookline:

I’m leaving you. We got into this relationship for the wrong reasons, and I should have ended it a year ago.

When I moved here from California in 2008, I needed a place for Sept. 1 on short notice. A mutual friend hooked us up. I was reluctant to commit to your exorbitant rent but was charmed by your tree-lined streets. You promised me a quiet refuge from the the city.

But you let me down.

Brookline "No Overnight Parking" sign (Andrew Phelps/WBUR)

I've had enough.

In just two years, your unforgiving rules, fees and rents froze out at least two dozen businesses from my neighborhood, Coolidge Corner. Built in their place — if built at all — banks and chain restaurants. What happened to your standards?

You jealously ticketed, even towed, my overnight guests. You made it impossible to have a drink late at night. You have become one big homeowner’s association.

Your “quirky” Green Line used to be an adorable flaw. But I’ve had enough of your late, slow, broken-down, overcrowded trains.

When my lease was up a year ago, I tried to go. But you lured me back. You were comfortable. The pain and expense of moving on wasn’t worth it.

You always seemed to snivel at my friends in Allston and JP. And when I started flirting with Cambridge, you told me that Brookline is “Cambridge for grownups.” Maybe I’ve left you for someone younger, but you know what? I’m happier now.

I want you to be happy. I want your business districts to thrive again. I want you to be a welcoming and unpretentious place. But I can’t stick around and wait while you figure that out.

Yours truly,

Andrew.

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PS, is it Brookline or is it me? There are two sides to every break-up story. Leave your thoughts in the comments.

Update: I have since tried to make up with Brookline.

Clarifying The Telegram.com 'Paywall'

Published August 17, 2010

I have been thinking more about the new Telegram.com pricing model. I don’t think it’s a new paradigm. I think it’s just another way to sell newspapers.

Let me break it down:

  • If you subscribe to the print edition of the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, you get unlimited access to the website.
  • If you don’t subscribe, you can join the website for $15 a month.
  • If you pay to join the website, you get a complimentary seven-day subscription to the newspaper. What’s more, if you do the arithmetic, it turns out the old-fashioned newspaper subscription is basically the same price (actually a dollar cheaper per month). The “online” subscription is billed monthly; the print subscription is billed semi-annually.
  • Both subscriptions give you the exact same thing.

Either the T&G has done a bad job explaining the change or we have a done a bad job reporting on it. (I think it’s the latter.)

It’s important to note the 10-article limit for non-subscribers only covers stories with T&G bylines. Everything else remains free. From the site’s FAQ:

The free information includes breaking news bulletins, articles obtained from news services, obituaries, all advertising, local blogs, photo galleries and videos. All information from the newspaper’s weekly products, available on TelegramTowns.com, will also remain free.

So, honestly, if you’re reading more than 10 original Telegram & Gazette stories every month, why not give them 15 bucks? Local news is expensive.