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Yahoo
22-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
For Memorial Day, remembering the 14 flyboys who died in Palm Beach County during WWII
Fourteen flyboys, young men in their 20s and late teens — some married, others just out of high school — along with their hopes and dreams died three days before Christmas 1943 in likely the deadliest air crash in Palm Beach County. A final adieu was never broadcast far and wide, and their story hardly ever told until a Palm Beach Post reporter learned what happened 70 years later. They came to be known as The Forgotten 14. It was smack in the middle of the most destructive war mankind has ever known. The 14 servicemen loaded onto a bomber in the wee hours of Dec. 22, 1943 to travel to a secret destination from Morrison Field, which later became Palm Beach International Airport. They flew in a bomber, the 24H. A previous model had had problems lifting off the runway. One of the servicemen, Bert Sauls, called his family ahead of the flight, worried: "We'll never make it. We're overloaded." Read the Post reporter's full story: The Forgotten 14: A story never told They cleared the end of the runway and then clipped the tops of three or four Australian pines about three-quarters of a mile from there. Engine parts were found at the base of those trees. The plane bounced off the ground and came down in a cow pasture. Then the full fuel tanks burst into flames. Onlookers, many awoken by the sound of the crash, raced to the site. They said they couldn't get past the "sheet of flames." They did manage to rescue two survivors — Artillery Gunner Howard Sewell and navigator Radamés E. Cáceres. Sewell told an officer from his hospital bed that the engines had no problems; they were "purring like a kitten." Within 36 hours of the crash, he and Cáceres were gone. The oldest of the 14 was pilot Samuel Gerald Dean, of Helena, Montana at age 27. He met his wife, Louise, not long before he signed up, which was about a month after Pearl Harbor — Dec. 7, 1941. She followed him from base to base and was pregnant when he died. Sam Jr. would be born about two months after the crash. 2. Dean's co-pilot was Edward Joseph Wolbers of Loveland, Ohio. He died days shy of age 27, a Christmas baby. "He was a wonderful person," his sister-in-law Dorothy Wolbers said in 2014. 3. Cáceres, like Dean, enlisted about a month after Pearl Harbor. The 21-year-old single man hailed from Cabo Rojo, Puerto Rico. 4. Bombardier Douglas Laurent Dauphin, 22, of St. Claire Shores, Michigan descended from French Canadians. He was the only one of six brothers who didn't make it back. He and Henrietta had been married three months. 5. The only Floridian was master gunner Sauls, 20, who came from Mango, a little settlement east of Tampa. "My dad was a Christian, and he wanted to fight for his country," daughter Sylvia Diane Sauls Waugh said in 2014. Sauls's second daughter, Linda Louise, would be born two months after he died. 6. Staff Sgt. Kenneth N. Markle, 25, the radio operator, was another one from New York — Middletown in the Hudson Valley region. 7. Artillery gunner Louis Karp, 25, another staff sergeant, had been a clerk in the Bronx when he enlisted on Nov. 14, 1942. He is buried in Queens in Mount Lebanon Cemetery. 8. James Henry "Jim" Henderson, 21, a second artillery gunner, had already lost his cousin Pete to noncombat injuries when he enlisted in October 1942. He was single and a civilian truck driver. 9. Douglas Vincent Schmoker, 20, another artillery gunner, also signed up in October 1942 and was single. He'd had two years of high school. 10. Sewell, one of the initial survivors of the crash, had turned 19 two weeks before the crash. He hailed from Erie, Pennsylvania and had a girlfriend. 11. George M. "Pud" Durrett, due to turn 23 three weeks later, was one of four brothers to join the military. Durrett of West Point, Mississippi was the only one to die. 12. Robert H. Watson, 22, of Fresno, California, attended Fresno State College for one semester in 1939. He had a brother in the Navy. 13. Harold Edwin Richards, 25, from Elmwood, Nebraska, worked for Nabisco when he enlisted more than a year before Pearl Harbor. In December 1942, he was transferred to the Army Air Corps. He'd married Verna Faye Miller on March 15. 14. James Dixon "Big Jim" Fore, 22, from Whiteville, North Carolina, was the first in his family to graduate from West Point. Two days after graduation, he married his wife, Theo. They didn't get the send-off they deserved until now-retired Post staff writer and historian Eliot Kleinberg happened upon their story. Kleinberg, who wrote the Post-Times history column for decades, was corresponding with the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency in Alabama when a researcher told him they had a number of files about Morrison Field. Day after day, fat envelopes began to arrive. Many were reports of minor plane mishaps. "Then I came across one that stopped me cold," he said. "It listed 14 names. In the column for injuries, each box read, 'F' — Fatal. Fatal, fatal, fatal. — Fourteen times." He thought he knew everything important that had happened in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast during World War II. But not this. "I stood up and walked right into the Post library and pulled out the microfilm roll for December 1943," he said. "And there it was. A small article. Five paragraphs. The next day, two paragraphs. Then nothing." Kleinberg had months — in time for Memorial Day 2014 — to tell their story, including finding photos to show all of their faces. He did. He tracked down and called relatives. "Many were touched, and a little confused, that I was writing this seven decades later," Kleinberg said. "I told them simply that the first time around, we hadn't." Holly Baltz, who has a passion for history, is The Palm Beach Post's investigations editor. You can reach her at hbaltz@ This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: For Memorial Day, remembering 14 World War II flyboys who died in PBC
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
West Palm Beach, Palm Beach County warned of major to extreme heat risk
A record challenging heat is stifling South Florida with temperatures not typically seen until deep summer as a loitering area of high pressure pushes out over the next few days. The National Weather Service in Miami noted pockets from West Palm Beach through Miami where the risk of heat related illnesses has been elevated to "extreme" — the highest warning level on a new heat risk index introduced in 2024. For West Palm Beach, the daytime high temperature is forecast to reach 94 degrees on May 21, just two degrees shy of the 2008 record of 96 degrees. The normal high temperature for May 21 is 86 degrees. It's not until mid July that the average peak temperature as measured at Palm Beach International Airport reaches 90 degrees. "It's going to be very uncomfortable," said Ana Torres-Vazquez, meteorologist with the Miami NWS office. "For the past several days we've had an area of high pressure over South Florida and a lot of subsidence, or air pushing down, and that tends to make things hotter." At the same time, an approaching front attached to an area of stormy weather over the Mid-Atlantic, will shift winds out of the west. That cuts off the cooling afternoon sea breeze for coastal Palm Beach County and means any air moving in has been warmed by its travel over the steamy Everglades. More: Climate change triggers new Florida heat warning chart that alerts when it could be deadly outside The "feels like" temperature or heat index could hit 102 degrees on May 21. As smothering as that it is, it's not high enough to trigger a heat advisory. In Palm Beach County, a heat advisory is issued when heat-index temperatures are forecast to reach 108 degrees or higher for at least two hours. In Broward and Miami-Dade counties, a heat advisory is issued if heat-index temperatures of 105 or higher are expected for at least two hours. The weather pattern shifts on Thursday as the front moves through with winds turning out of the northwest. Temperatures are forecast to reach into the low 90s in Palm Beach County but there is also a 20% chance of showers and thunderstorms during the day that increases to 70% in the evening. More: Best ice cream shops, gelato, ice pops and more cool treats in Palm Beach County The National Weather Service introduced the new heat risk index last year in the hopes it will better translate the possible health complications triggered when the mercury rises to misery. Like the Air Quality Index and the UV Index, the new ranking system assigns numbers to risk levels that include who is most susceptible to health problems at each level and actions that should be taken to reduce risks. Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@ Help support our local journalism, subscribe today. This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Record challenging high temperatures in South Florida how hot will it get
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
These big predator lizards eat iguanas, toads and more. Here's where they lurk in Florida.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — Six-foot predatory lizards normally found along the Nile River in Africa have set up shop in South Florida — and Palm Beach County canals are a hot spot. Nile monitors, which can grow to just over 6 feet and about 20 pounds, have been living along the C-51 Canal, which parallels Southern Boulevard in West Palm Beach, running from Palm Beach International Airport west to Wellington. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has stepped up control efforts in recent years, but the lizards are fast and wary, and even seem 'untrappable.' There is hope, though, gained from efforts in other parts of the state. Eric Suarez, who worked for the FWC to control the Palm Beach Nile monitor population from 2016 to 2019, and who is now a wildlife biologist at the University of Florida, said the lizards showed up in 1981 and established wild breeding populations by the 1990s. There's a separate population in Cape Coral, west of Fort Myers, he said, which for some reason is trappable. He suspects it may be because there's more prey along Palm Beach canals. The Cape Coral environment is more residential and manicured, with less cover. Wildlife officials believe canals act as conduits for reptiles, allowing them to reach new areas. 'What we think is that the C-51 Canal was the main area of introduction of the Nile monitors (in Palm Beach County) and then they started branching out to the E-2 Canal,' said Suarez. The E-2 parallels Florida's Turnpike, south of Southern Boulevard. Nile monitors, smaller cousins to the massive Komodo dragons of Indonesia, were first introduced to Florida by the exotic pet trade, the same industry that brought in iguanas and Burmese pythons. Florida made it illegal to possess a Nile monitor in 2021. In fact, Suarez and his brother had a Nile monitor pet as teens. 'It was very aggressive and we were bit by it multiple times, and it hurt,' he said. 'And this was a juvenile, maybe 16 inches long.' Nile monitors are long and thin, with skin that looks beaded with gray and yellow dots. The dots form stripes on their torso and tail. Like iguanas, they're active in the daytime, take shelter in burrows or trees at night, and dig burrows that erode and collapse sidewalks, seawalls and canal banks. But unlike iguanas, they're predators. They compete with and eat native wildlife, the FWC said, and are thus considered invasive. The African lizards will hunt nearly anywhere (in trees, on the ground, in burrows and in both fresh and salt water) and eat almost anything they can catch. That could include birds and their eggs, from burrowing owls to songbirds, turtles and turtle eggs, frogs, crabs, fish, snakes, small mammals and even young alligators or crocodiles. They also eat invasive species, such as green iguanas. A diet study by Frank Mizzotti at UF found that the lizards even ingest poisonous invasive cane toads, with seemingly no ill effects. Suarez said they're tough to control for a few reasons. They're highly reproductive, laying 12 to 60 eggs per clutch, and they're skittish and fast. Unlike pythons, the lizards often flee quickly when they sense a human. Biologists have been able to trap the population in Cape Coral, but the Palm Beach County lizards seem untrappable, Suarez said. They just won't crawl into a cage to take the bait. The FWC has found a shotgun with safety permits to be the most effective method of control for the Palm Beach lizards. 'When you're on the C-51 you're just driving a boat along these canals at a very slow speed and hopefully you see one,' Suarez said. 'By the time you see one, they're darting into the canals. … They're amazing swimmers.' The FWC has made it open season for the public to hunt Nile monitors in Florida year-round, but you do have to obey anti-cruelty laws, and you can't just shoot them anywhere you see them. They can be humanely killed on private property with landowner permission, or on specific state-managed land in South Florida. Suarez said that wildlife officials have upped efforts to contain the species and stop them from spreading. In just three years, from 2016 to 2019, they removed as many lizards from Palm Beach County as they did in the previous 15 years. That was more a reflection of control efforts than a growing population, Suarez said. Since then, sightings along C-51 have diminished a bit. Can they actually be eradicated? That's tough to say. Ideally Suarez would want to trap and track females to their nests, but the east-coast lizards are so wary, it so far feels impossible to catch adults alive. He said there's reason for optimism, though. Back in the early 2000s, there was a population of Nile monitors living in and around the Homestead Air Reserve Base in Miami-Dade County. A team of biologists there set out to control the population and there hasn't been an observation there since approximately 2016, Suarez said. 'They did a hell of a job,' he said. 'We can't say it's eradicated for sure, but it's a potential success story.' And the private sector may have some answers. Wildlife trapper Mike Kimmel, aka the Python Cowboy, has used dogs trained to track hogs and pythons to also locate the lizards. He was able to take them alive, which would allow wildlife officials to tag and track females to their nests if they had funding. You can view where, exactly, Nile monitors have been observed and removed from South Florida on the interactive EDDMapS map, at The Early Detection and Distribution Mapping System, run by the University of Georgia, logs reports from the public and wildlife officials of invasive species in the U.S., from plants to bugs to animals. You can zoom in to see specific catches, some of which have photos. If you see what you think is a Nile monitor, you can report sightings to the FWC's Invasive Species Hotline at 888-IVE-GOT1 (483-4681). If they can confirm the species from photos or videos, they'll investigate and, if feasible, try to capture or remove the animal. ____
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Travel + Leisure
14-05-2025
- Business
- Travel + Leisure
This Semi-private Airline Just Launched Flights Between Florida and Nantucket—With Business-class Seats, Michelin-starred Dining, and No TSA Lines
Flying private from Palm Beach has always been available to those of certain means—I get to watch Air Force One and Elon Musk's jet fly over my head on a weekly basis—but now, thanks to a new partnership between XO and West Palm Beach–based Slate Aviation, it's becoming more accessible to the other 99.9 percent. From April 26 through Sept. 30, Slate Aviation will run shared private shuttle service to Nantucket (ACK) from Palm Beach International Airport (PBI) and Fort Lauderdale International Airport (FLL). The new Nantucket service builds upon existing shuttle operations between South Florida and New York, including Westchester County Airport and other member-only terminals. The best part? You can book these luxurious semi-private flights by the seat rather than chartering a full aircraft. So instead of a price in the mid five-figures, you can hop aboard for fares starting at $695 per seat—and you can book it all from an easy-to-use app. I was so stoked on the prospect that I grabbed a seat on a snazzy Bombardier CRJ-200 during the inaugural weekend of flights between South Florida and Nantucket. And after experiencing travel the Slate way, I can confirm the term 'shuttle' doesn't quite do justice to this service. The flights are the epitome of luxury, with just 18 oversized seats (all business class); free Wi-Fi; catering by my favorite local five-star restaurant, Buccan; and a basket of snacks that puts all commercial airlines' offerings to shame. There's no TSA lines or boarding aggravation. There's just a brief walk from the lounge of a private terminal onto the plane, a safety briefing by your captain, drink orders taken by two smiling flight attendants, and then you're airborne. Maybe even ahead of schedule: an unexpected perk of flying semi-private is that your flight can depart early if all the passengers are present, giving you more time to soak up a Nantucket afternoon—even if that afternoon is a dreary introduction to the island's nickname, The Gray Lady. (Luckily, my flight coincided with the island's annual Daffodil Festival, so the sea of locals in cheery hues, 'Happy Daffy!' greetings, and millions of yellow daffodils in full bloom brightened our days despite the cold, wet spring weather.) I brought a girlfriend along and only had 24 hours to explore on this first-time visit to Nantucket, but since the island is only seven by 14 miles, that's enough time to hit the highlights. We stayed at The Brant, popped in to see the iconic 26-foot-tall Brant Point Lighthouse, grabbed ice cream scoops from The Juice Bar, and a bite from Straight Wharf Fish. Now, with only three (pampered) hours separating tropical Palm Beach from the Northeastern flower-filled daydream that is Nantucket, I have a feeling the two islands will be seeing a lot more of each other this summer. Slate Aviation flights between South Florida and Nantucket will take place two days per week through May 31, then five days per week June 1 through Sept. 30. To book, download the app, or to learn more, visit
NDTV
13-05-2025
- Politics
- NDTV
"Stupid" To Reject Free Air Force One As Gift By Qatar: Trump Dismisses Criticism
New Delhi: US President Donald Trump's plans to receive a free Air Force One replacement from Qatar has triggered a massive political row and raised various concerns, including among a section of Republicans, even as he said he would be "stupid" not to accept such a gift. Qatar's royal family has reportedly offered to donate a luxury 747-8 jumbo jet as Mr Trump awaits the delayed delivery of two new planes from Boeing to serve as an updated Air Force One. A new commercial 747-8 costs approximately $400 million. The US Constitution bars government officials from accepting gifts from "any King, Prince or foreign State," under Article 1 of the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Mr Trump, however, responded angrily when asked if he would use the jet in a personal capacity after he left the presidency. "You should be embarrassed asking that question," the Republican told reporters on Monday. "I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I could be a stupid person and say, 'No, we don't want a free, very expensive airplane.'" Mr Trump is set to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday on the first leg of a Gulf tour that will also see him visit Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. The US President has long been unhappy with the current Air Force One jets - highly customised Boeing 747-200B series aircraft - VC-25A in military speak - that entered service in 1990 under President George H.W. Bush. Earlier this year, the US President expressed frustration and said his administration was "looking at alternatives" to Boeing amid delays in the delay of delivery of two new 747-8 aircraft. "We're very disappointed that it's taking Boeing so long... We have an Air Force one that's 40 years old. You look at some of the Arab countries and the planes they have parked alongside the United States of America plane, it's like from a different planet," he said. Mr Trump toured the Qatari-owned 747-8 in February when it was parked at Palm Beach International Airport in Florida, near his Mar-a-Lago resort. At the time, the White House said the President did so to get a better understanding of how the updated Air Force One planes would be configured. ABC: "What do you say to people who view that luxury jet as a personal gift to you?" @POTUS: "You're ABC Fake News right?... You should be embarrassed asking that question. They're giving us a free jet. I could say no... I want to pay you $1B... Or I could say thank you." — Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) May 12, 2025 "CONFLICT OF INTEREST" The Democrats, legal experts and a section of Republicans, however, worry that Mr Trump's plans of accepting the luxury plane for free from Qatar's royal family may pose ethical, legal, security and counterintelligence problems, since the gift would be from a foreign power for use as an ultra-sensitive Air Force One. "Any president who accepts this kind of gift, valued at $400 million, from a foreign government creates a clear conflict of interest," said a statement by four members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The plan also "raises serious national security questions, invites foreign influence, and undermines public trust in our government", said the statement by Senators Cory Booker, Brian Schatz, Chris Coons and Chris Murphy. Jessica Levinson, a constitutional law expert at Loyola Law School, said: "This is unprecedented. We just haven't tested these boundaries before." Some of the Republican president's allies are also worried. Laura Loomer, an outspoken conspiracy theorist who has tried to purge disloyal officials from the administration, wrote on social media that she would "take a bullet for Trump" but said she's "so disappointed." Congressional Republicans also expressed some doubts about the plan. "My view is that it would be better if Air Force One were a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America. That would be ideal," said Missouri Senate Josh Hawley. Kentucky Senate Rand Paul flatly said he was a "no" on whether Mr Trump should accept the plane. "I don't think it looks good or smells good," he said. Reuters WHITE HOUSE TAMPERS DOWN OPPOSITION Amid a barrage of criticisms, Mr Trump said he wouldn't fly around in the gifted Boeing 747 when his term ends. Instead, he said, the $400 million plane would be donated to a future presidential library, similar to how the Boeing 707 used by President Ronald Reagan was decommissioned and put on display as a museum piece. "It would go directly to the library after I leave office. I wouldn't be using it," he said. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt insisted the White House would act with "utmost transparency". "The Qatari government has graciously offered to donate a plane to the Department of Defense. The legal details of that are still being worked out," she told Fox News. "But of course, any donation to this government is always done in full compliance with the law, and we commit ourselves to the utmost transparency, and we will continue to do that," she added. Asked if there were concerns that Qatar would want something in return, the official replied: "Absolutely not, because they know President Trump and they know he only works with the interests of the American public in mind." Mr Trump has a model of the future Air Force One in his handpicked red, white and blue colors on the coffee table in the Oval Office, in front of where he sits with foreign leaders. He also has his own private jet branded "Trump Force One" which he used to fly around the US during the 2024 election campaign. AFP QATAR DOWNPLAYS CONTROVERSY Amid the raging controversy, Qatar's media attache to Washington, Ali Al-Ansari, said: "The possible transfer of an aircraft for temporary use as Air Force One is currently under consideration between Qatar's Ministry of Defense and the US Department of Defense." WILL THE NEW PLANE BE SECURE? The Qatari plane has been described as a "palace in the sky," complete with luxurious accommodations and top-of-the-line finishes. However, security is the primary concern. The Air Force One planes were built from scratch near the end of the Cold War, and are hardened against the effects of a nuclear blast. They include a range of security features, such as anti-missile countermeasures and an onboard operating room. They are also equipped with air-to-air refueling capabilities for contingencies, though it has never been utilized with a president on board. A former US official, who did not wish to be named, said while it would be possible to add some features to the Qatari jet, there was no way to add the full suite of capabilities to the plane on a tight timetable. It would be a risk for presidents to fly on such a jet, the official said.
