Star Tribune
World War II veteran from Woodbury hits the 100-year mark
Reaching 100 years old has long been a goal for World War II veteran Richard King, but he wasn’t sure he would actually make it.
“I really was sweating out the last six years, and not really saying anything to the kids or my family about it, more or less hoping I would do it,” King said at his 100th birthday party Thursday in Woodbury.
Around 60 people filled a lounge area for King’s party at the New Perspective assisted living facility in Woodbury, including friends and family members. Still, he’s part of a rapidly shrinking cohort — only about 1% of the 16 million Americans to serve in the military during World War II were still living as of 2022.
King didn’t offer secrets to reaching that milestone other than advising, “Don’t smoke, drink or chase women.” But one constant in King’s life has been staying busy, whether it was during his time in the U.S. Air Force as a gunner, or running his business.
He was born in Minnesota on June 5, 1923, and grew up working on farms, but he was always interested in flying planes.
“I read every book there is about airplanes; it became my hobby,” King said.
At his party, posters showed King posing with other military crewmates during the war and with planes. Asked why he joined the military, he said it was to find a way to fly and to get out to see more of the world, not so much a desire to fight.
“I don’t think there were any heroics in there at all. I think it was more or less just a kid off the farm,” he said.
King entered the Air Force in 1943 and spent three years training to be a gunner for B-17 bomber planes and later B-29s. For hundreds of days King and other crew members practiced firing on stationary and moving targets. He said sitting in the planes gave him a sense of comfort that was hard to find elsewhere, and that he was unafraid of going to war.
“I was never scared of it, and I’m not sure why, I always thought I was a coward, but I was never scared in those two planes,” he said.
While stationed in Texas in 1945, King was informed he would be deployed to Japan. As his crew prepared to fly from New Hampshire to Japan, he was told the war was over, following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Following the war he left the military and came back to Minnesota. While flying the bomber planes is among his fondest memories, he said it was a disappointment not getting to join the fight and shoot down enemy planes.
“I think I was let down. I wanted to get over there,” he said.
He would later go on to get a private pilot’s license.
After returning to Minnesota, King spent more than 10 years in the heating and air conditioning business before founding Gladwin Machinery, a metal fabricating equipment company, in 1973.
King went on to have 10 children, 20 grandchildren and 28 great-grandkids.
His oldest daughter, 72-year-old Christine King, described her father as “very outgoing” and someone who stayed active bicycling for many years.
“With the company, he was always the one to talk to the customers. He was the mouth of the bunch,” she said.
About a dozen people congratulated King on his birthday as he ate carrot cake Thursday. Lindsey Marusich, executive director at New Perspective, said his “zest for life” stood out.
“He’s always so happy,,” Marusich said. “When he told me he was 99 when I met him, I didn’t believe him. He looks great for being 100 years old.”
Asked what’s changed in the world over his 100 years, King said he’s come to appreciate more the value of good morals.
“You sort of have to be a good person,” he said. “There are so many things people do, whether it’s smoke or drink themselves to death. People today, if they need anything, they need morals.”
A 20-year-old St. Paul man is now facing three murder charges in separate killings in Minneapolis in recent years.
Albert Jerome Lucas was charged Wednesday in Hennepin County District Court in connection with the killing of 20-year-old Antonio Vernon Harper, of Minneapolis, on Nov. 6, 2023, in Minneapolis in the 3300 block of Dupont Avenue N.
Lucas, who has been jailed since May and remains held in lieu of $2 million bail, is scheduled to appear in court early Thursday afternoon. He does not yet have an attorney listed in court records for this latest charge.
According to Wednesday’s criminal complaint, which charges Lucas with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted second-degree murder:
Officers arrived to the scene and saw Harper on the ground suffering from a fatal gunshot wound to the chest.
A witness told police that she saw three males “hugging” the side of home and looking toward Harper and two of his friends. Gunfire from Lucas erupted, hitting Harper, and the suspects fled in a car. One of Harper’s friends shared with officers that the shooting was gang-related.
Officers saw the vehicle two days later and determined it had been stolen in St. Paul. The driver fled police, but officers soon found the vehicle. DNA on a cigar wrapper inside the vehicle was tested and came back as a match for Lucas.
Star Tribune
Palestinian officials say an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza killed 15
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — An Israeli strike on a school sheltering the displaced in northern Gaza on Thursday killed at least 15 people, including five children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The Israeli military said the strike targeted dozens of Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants who had gathered at the Abu Hussein school in Jabaliya, an urban refugee camp in northern Gaza where Israel has been waging a major air and ground operation for more than a week.
Fares Abu Hamza, head of the ministry’s emergency unit in northern Gaza, confirmed the toll and said dozens of people were wounded. He said the nearby Kamal Adwan Hospital was struggling to treat the casualties.
“Many women and children are in critical condition,” he said.
The Israeli military said it targeted a command center run by both militant groups inside the school. It provided a list of around a dozen names of people it identified as militants who were present when the strike was called in. It was not immediately possible to verify the names.
Israel has repeatedly struck tent camps and schools sheltering displaced people in Gaza. The Israeli military says it carries out precise strikes on militants and tries to avoid harming civilians, but its strikes often kill women and children.
Hamas-led militants triggered the war when they stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting around 250 others. Some 100 captives are still inside Gaza, about a third of whom are believed to be dead.
Israel’s offensive has killed over 42,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. It does not differentiate between civilians and combatants but says women and children make up a little more than half of the fatalities.
Twin Amur tigers born at Como Zoo in August now have names — Marisa and Maks.
Two long-time volunteers who have worked with zookeepers to care for and teach the public about the zoo’s big cats came up with the names, the first to be born at the St. Paul zoo in more than 40 years.
Marisa, a name that the volunteers found to mean “spirited and tenacious,” call that a perfect reflection of her personality. The name also carries special significance for the Como Zoo community, as it honors a retired zookeeper of the same name who was instrumental in the care of large cats during her 43 years at the zoo, Como Zoo and Conservatory Director Michelle Furrer said.
The male cub has been named Maks, which is associated with meanings like “the greatest” or “strength and leadership.” The volunteers felt this was an apt description of the male cub’s confident demeanor and growing sense of leadership, Furrer said.
“Marisa and Maks aren’t just names; they’re a fun reminder of the passion and care that keep us committed to protecting wildlife every day,” Furrer said.
The newborns and their first-time mother, 7-year-old Bernadette, remain off view to allow for more bonding time, zoo officials said. The cubs’ father, 11-year-old Tsar, has been a Como resident since February 2019 and remains on view.
Fewer than 500 Amur tigers — also known as Siberian tigers — remain in the wild as they face critical threats from habitat loss, poaching and human-wildlife conflict, the zoo said.
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