Veterans

Alan Wood, 90, a World War II veteran credited with providing the flag in the famous flag-raising on Iwo Jima, died. April 18 of natural causes at his Sierra Madre, Calif., home. Mr. Wood was a 22-year-old Navy officer in charge of communications on a landing ship on Iwo Jima's shores Feb. 23, 1945, when a Marine asked him for the biggest flag he could find. After five days of fighting to capture the island, U.S. forces had managed to scale Mount Suribachi to hoist an American flag.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Normandy Invasion, runner-up in the Wood Memorial, is named for the pivotal Allied assault in World War II. Rick Porter, the colt's owner, decided he could do more to honor that effort than simply naming a horse. He has arranged for four veterans of that campaign to join him at the Derby. "Three of them were on the beaches for the D-Day invasion," said Porter, a Wilmington native who has two-second place finishes in the Derby with Hard Spun (2007) and Eight Belles (2008)

TRENTON - A $40 million initiative to provide counseling to military veterans and active duty members suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and other psychological traumas hangs in the balance as Congress debates whether to pay for it once again. The funding, initiated in 2011 and pushed again by Reps. Rush Holt (D., N.J.) and Jon Runyan (R., N.J.), pays for suicide prevention and other forms of outreach to service members. A measure that would have made funding for treatment permanent was blocked in the Senate two years ago. Holt and Runyan, who held a news conference Tuesday in Trenton to call on members of the House to support the program again, said that if anything, the problem was worse than most realize.

WASHINGTON - With the simplest of sentences, NBA veteran Jason Collins set aside years of worry and silence to become the first active player in one of the four major U.S. professional sports leagues to come out as gay. In a first-person article posted Monday on Sports Illustrated's website, Collins begins: "I'm a 34-year-old NBA center. I'm black. And I'm gay. " Collins has played for six teams in 12 seasons, most recently as a reserve with the Washington Wizards after a midseason trade from the Boston Celtics.

WASHINGTON - At an event centered on one of the darkest times in human history, more than 1,000 Holocaust survivors, World War II veterans and other dignitaries crowded into a tent to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and filled it with the joyous sounds of laughter, some tears and Yiddish. Lots of Yiddish. It was an emotional ceremony, but also celebratory for all that the museum has accomplished over the last two decades. Former President Bill Clinton and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel, who were at the dedication of the museum in 1993, returned Monday and reiterated the reason for its existence: that such genocide might "never again" occur.

HIS NICKNAME is "Danger," the kind of guy who doesn't need a gun to end a fight. Michael K. Castro fought most of his battles in rings and the gyms where he trained as a Muay Thai kickboxer. But Atlantic County authorities say he allegedly shot and killed a 77-year-old Army veteran during a burglary last year in rural Mullica Township. Castro, 32, was arrested Tuesday in Dania, Fla., where he had moved and was in the process of opening a new Muay Thai gym. The former Burlington County resident described himself as a two-time Muay Thai world champion who has worked as a kickboxing instructor at gyms throughout South Jersey.

Lauren Fortunato is not a fan of diving. The Agnes Irwin senior knows it's silly - she is a shortstop, after all - and her softball coaches even joke with her about it. But the Skidmore College signee is working on it, thanks to the new approach of second-year head coach Laura Stott. "In past years, practice was the same way, every day," Fortunato said. "There wasn't time to practice one thing we wanted. Now we can become more confident in the skills we need to work on. " Stott lets the girls decide what they want to individually work on for the last half hour to 45 minutes of practice.

  When Army Sgt. Paul Costello returned home to West Chester from an 18-month tour in Iraq in 2006, he "went on vacation for three months," he said, laughing. "I was so burnt out," he said. "I was just so happy to be home. " But his initial relief was short-lived, he said. He grew depressed and suicidal. He began drinking almost every day - "I was trying to go out and have as much fun as possible," Costello, 28, said. "I felt I had missed out on so much. " He worked 80-hour weeks to keep his mind off the nightmares and the insomnia, the memories of 18 months in war-torn Ramadi, "which was and still is one of the worst places in Iraq," he said.

BILLY WILSON enjoyed being the center of attention. The high-spirited Billy, always fashionably dressed, would take to the dance floor with the slightest provocation, and charm his friends with his outgoing personality. "He made friends easily," said his daughter Tahirah Wilson. "He never held anything back. " James P. Wilson, known as Billy, was a 10-year employee of Service Employees International Union Local 32BJ, which represents office cleaners in Center City, an artist whose work reflected the African-American experience, an Army veteran and a doting father and grandfather.