My latest news story in The Ballston Journal is about Frank Darling, a World War II veteran approaching his 100th birthday, who was captured in the Battle of the Bulge. My uncle Joseph Gaffney, of Brooklyn, the 19-year-old son of Irish immigrants, was killed in the same battle. They both served in Patton's Third Army, although Darling's 7th Armored Division had been transferred by then to a different American command. The battle is also famous for the stand in Bastogne by the 101st Airborne Division, which was for a time surrounded by the German advance and then relieved by the Third Army. In more recent years, my daughter and son-in-law served a combined five tours in Afghanistan. Three of those deployments -- two of his, one of hers -- were with the 101st.