Senior News & Views

Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen has announced an initiative to recognize Korean War veterans.

Some under-the-radar soldiers merit remembering.

Fort Lee, Virginia, fielded a battery of baseball major leaguers in 1953.

Left-hander Chet Nichols of the Boston Braves had won the National League ERA championship as a 20-year-old rookie in 1951. His winning 2.88 came two years before the Braves moved to Milwaukee.

Catcher Harry Chiti, at age 17, had joined the Chicago Cubs in 1950. Quickly spread the word, in 1953, when he arrived at Fort Lee.

For Nichols and Chiti, two years in the Army trimmed careers. Nichols’ time in the majors was nine years; Chiti’s, 10.

Fort Lee has been twice renamed, again as Lee, now to honor Private Fitz Lee rather than Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee.

The Nebraska Department of Veterans’ Affairs is to present a Korean War challenge coin to Nebraskans who served in the U.S. Armed Forces between June 27, 1950, and Jan. 31, 1955.

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