By DANNY MINTON One of the beautiful stories to come out of World War II is the story of the North Platte Canteen of North Platte, Nebraska. One day in late 1941, the North Platte Bulletin received a letter from a 26-year-old woman, Rae Wilson. She spoke of how the mothers of the boys in World War I set up

By DANNY MINTON It was October 7, 1871, and the people in the city that lay quietly near Lake Michigan went about their daily routine. The streets were full of shoppers, farmers had come to town to sell their goods, and tradesmen were actively busy making money.  However, the next day, October 8, 1871, would be different. Fire has a

By DANNY MINTON During the first two minutes, as you read this article, at least three people worldwide will have taken their own life. By this time tomorrow, that number will swell to close to 2,200. According to the World Health Organization, that number will reach approximately 800,000 by the end of 2022. Of those 800,000, about 46,000 will be

By DANNY MINTON I recently watched a TV drama where a man’s wife and son were kidnapped. He searched for them, but the area where they were taken was unfamiliar to him. The man decided to hire a guide who knew the territory and could help him navigate the many places he could look to find his family. He followed

By DANNY MINTON In 1895 a poet named Mary T. Lathrop penned a poem she called “Judge Softly.” The theme of the stanzas has been repeated in many forms over the years, using different words but having the general meaning. She begins her poem with the following lines. Pray, don’t find fault with the man that limps,Or stumbles along the

By DANNY MINTON At the end of the movie “The Time Machine,” the primary character, George, makes one final journey to a time century in the future. His friends arrive at his home to find him gone and contemplate where he traveled. They look toward a row of books during the discussion and notice three books missing. The question they

By DANNY MINTON If you happened to catch the national news this week, you might have seen the story of Zippy Chippy. Zippy passed away just shy of his 31st birthday, and his fan club gathered to pay tribute to him. His legacy is firmly established in two books about him, one a children’s book, and the chances are that

By DANNY MINTON “Mother!” cried out a soldier wounded in a World War II battle. He didn’t know why he said it; the word automatically came from his subconscious. The scenario represented a moment in the lives of many soldiers, some wounded, some dying. Why do grown men cry out for their mothers when they feel trapped in a live-or-die

By DANNY MINTON On March 1, 2009, Corey Smith drowned along with two friends, Marquis Cooper and Will Bleakly. The three men and Nick Schuyler were on a fishing boat in the Gulf of Mexico when it overturned while they tried to pull up an anchor that had gotten stuck. Smith and Cooper were both NFL football players. Schuyler would