The Stars and Stripes lives forever. The first written and produced issue produced by Union soldiers during the Civil War has followed military men and women around the globe from Cold War maneuvers in Europe after World War II to Iraq and Afghanistan. During an Honor Flight event over the Memorial Day weekend, a former journalism chum from the University of Nevada, Reno and I ran into each other, the first time we have seen each other since the early 1970s.
Steve Ranson
Fred Hinners was two years ahead of me, but during the 1970s, he enlisted in the Army and later found his way to Europe as a writer for The Stars and Stripes. He has been promoting the newspaper’s 160th birthday, and the newspaper is a journalistic tradition for those of us who have served overseas. A birthday celebration for the newspaper is Thursday at the National Auto Museum on Lake Street in Reno.“This should be a great event for veterans who remember ‘Stars and Stripes’ and those who want to remember a few of the glory days of newspapering,” Hinners said. My first introduction to an issue of The Stars and Stripes came in 1984 when my unit participated in Team Spirit, a joint military training exercise between the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) or South Korea. At the time, I was broadcasting daily Team Spirit updates on AFKN (American Forces Korea Network) TV and radio, but I found the articles in The Stars and Stripes a good resource to follow from the broadcast side. The Stars and Stripes reporters tirelessly worked side by side with the network and major print reporters covering the training. Every military installation I visited between Seoul and the demilitarized zone that separated North and South Korea had copies of The Stars and Stripes. On two subsequent additional Team Spirit assignments in 1987 and 1990, The Stars and Stripes consistently produced an in-depth and informative daily newspaper that included both news on the two-nation training and events from around the world.
During two years I spent in the mid-1980s with the Southern Command Network in the Republic of Panama, The Stars and Stripes competed with U.S. Southcom’s newspaper. While I found both publications informative, I loved the variety found in The Stars and Stripes. After I retired from the military, I traveled twice to Afghanistan, and The Stars and Stripes could be found at the dining halls, post exchanges and at other various locations. The newspaper proved to be an invaluable tool for information because the reliability of reading news from the United States on the internet was inconsistent.Fallon resident and retired military/civilian newspaperman Jim Falk had an assignment I would’ve accepted in a heartbeat. Not quite 30 years old, Falk’s new assignment in the mid-1960s took him to the Tokyo headquarters of the Pacific Stars and Stripes as a photojournalist. At the time, sailors like Falk could serve on the newspaper’s staff. Falk also spent time in South Vietnam as well. In a 2017 article I wrote about the newspaperman, “Falk had attention for detail and an eye for layout.” Additionally, Falk accompanied the 4th Marines to cover a three-point or location landing near Saigon. Hinners said the public is invited to the National Auto Museum on Thursday. The event begins at 2 p.m. and included in the program that afternoon will be a portrayal of the famous World War II war correspondent Ernie Pyle. I have read many of Pyle’s articles and columns he wrote during the war and saw his grave during an Honor Flight Nevada trip to Oahu in February 2020. The afternoon also features The Stars and Stripes displays and information on the newspaper’s museum and outreach efforts. The presentation is free to the public except for a $10 admission charge to the auto museum. Go to https://automuseum.org/special-events/ for more information. Millions of military men and women have followed The Stars and Strips like the newspaper has followed them from the early battles of the Civil War to the jungles of South Vietnam and most recently to the hot desert of Iraq. Correspondents have put their lives on the line like our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines so the fighting men and women could receive the news first-hand and without bias. Steve Ranson is editor emeritus of the Lahontan Valley News and currently writes military and veteran articles for the Nevada News Group. Ranson, Ken Beaton and David C. Henley have also written a book on World War II veterans, “Legacies of the Silver State: Nevada Goes to War.”
Steve Ranson