European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lieve the Battle of armageddon Wilt take place Iemand. Has be Dixon no a a e 103 t regard to i said is from us or. Orson vow a 1 any to give Obert r Ogist. Ore Ine Quot for a scare a the Nee to acts avers vion. Hedge in Day said Var a ii. S give. Of est in Cise in it it Ili cais y people Quot if a person s not a Christian the whole Point of this is he should become a Christian a said Walvoord who compares the Effort to convert an individual to christianity today to knocking on a neighbors doors to warn them their House is on fire. Quot if you Don t believe. You la be burned up Quot Walvoord said. A t there Are those who Are concerned that churches Are taking advantage of. Wartime fears. Others such As Tabor Are worried that fundamentalists a Many of whom believe great suffering must take place in Israel for the fulfilment of biblical prophecy a May Back off their support of that country when they become convinced the pieces Are in place for the. Second coming. \. The same fundamentalists who say r they love and support Israel Quot Are also willing to say Israel has to go through another holocaust. That kind of. Logic i think is kind of chilling Quot Tabor  interest in uni Lenial scenarios goes a beyond a fascination with round numbers. A some evangelicals Divide history into. Rough periods of 2,000 years with the. A major prophets before Christ constituting a the first age followed by the birth of Christ the second coming is forecast to take place around the third millennium. After the final Battle takes place Many christians believe Christ will Rule for 1,000 years. A a a a a in Chicago the Rev. Donald Cole a radio pastor and talk show Host on the a Moody Bible broadcast network said the War is biblical in the sense that the final a cataclysm will take place in the Middle East but he does not see the current conflict As fulfilling biblical prophecy. Quot the Bible warns you against Date setting Quot he said. Quot when people Start. Reading the b Ibie  i eaves the y a confuse superstition with  books dealing with these topics will be available in stars and stapes bookstores soon. The seduction of War correspondents. Chase the big Story a editor s note  to Josephus to Quot Goya to Mathew brady., to civil War diarist Mary a Quot a. Chesnut to Ernest Hemingway there have always been those who reported the horrors and heroism of War. George Esper. Who covered the Vietnam War for. Many -. Years arid is now covering the. Persian Gulf War writes Here about his calling. A by George Esper associated press f , the War correspondent and combat photographer a front Row seat at life s ultimate existential act transcends everything else. We go to War not because we love. It but rather because of its Challenge and our journalistic calling. A for Many of us it will be the biggest thing we will do in our lives. And it will assure us lasting membership in one of the most exclusive clubs in the world. War propels some of us far beyond where we intended to go. We Are seduced by its journalistic Glamour and. Romance. Some of us the least Likely Are drawn into it innocently enough through strange twists of Fate. Homer Bigart who reported world War ii Korea and. Vietnam and won two pulitzer prizes never really gave it much thought. Quot it s something that i personally drifted. Into. No great drive a. Certainly not the love for  but once there,.he pushed ahead because of the rivalry among correspondents. Quot i hated to be beaten i. Thought i d be yellow if i left. You d feel the same Way. You. Would t want to admit that you had . A. I never intended to go to Vietnam never volunteered. I was part of the press buildup that matched the u s. Military buildup in the summer of 1965, but once there it became my life. I Felt that sense of adventure that a War correspondent before me in Korea the late Bob Considine had written about. A Quot Quot every time a reporter picks up a Story or swing aboard a plane on assignment or  fresh Sheet of a copy paper into his typewriter he shoots his roil a like a craps player going for  a. I fee that same excitement now. -. A i think often of what another War correspondent associated press colleague Terry Anderson who has been held hostage for nearly six years in Lebanon said. A when he first went to cover the explosive Middle East. A Quot after All  of reporter could turn Down the a world s top news Story Quot. Not Terry whose plight symbolizes the peril reporters.  in Many parts of this dangerous world. Not Elizabeth Pond a correspondent for the Christian science Monitor who was held captive in Cambodia for a 40 Days by anti government forces. With a gun pointed to her head she was displayed As an american prisoner of War blindfolded and marched through a Gauntlet of jeering villagers. Not the three cambodian1.reporters for the associated press mean Leang Sang he and Sun Heang who stayed behind to cover the fail of phenom penh in 1975 despite the genocide of the conquering Khmer Rouge. Forces a a. We fondly called them the Quot big three Quot mean Lea Rig a worked in the office filing reports from the other two out in the Field. Quot Lavione in Folce. Losing Contact with our Guys the cabled at the end. A feel rather trembling do not know How to file our stories now maybe last Cable today and a  George Esper in Vietnam in 1966. He covered the Vietnam War for the associated press. It was the last time tie would file. A year later he was executed. A a a. A a a not Cathy Leroy a 22-Ycar-old photographer whose. A 90-Pound Frame was riddled with steel from her. Face to. Her legs during a North vietnamese mortar attack. Her concern was not Wilh her swollen face covered with bandages or her fractured jaw she wanted Only to get Back to covering the War.  a. Quot Why do i want to stay Quot she said through wired Teeth. Quot i Don t know exactly. I guess i just want to. I want to take Good pictures of the War better than anybody else so i have to be where things Are . Soldiers Are not the Only casualties of War. The photos and plaques on the Walls of news offices across the country attest to the toll our. Profession paid in the lives of War correspondents and combat photographers. Two years ago to honoured the 63 fallen journalists of the Vietnam War at a ceremony in Jeffersonville n y one of the speakers who could not speak because he was so choked with emotion was Huynh Cong it. Whom we. Fondly called Nick. A. O. Nicks brother Huynh Thanh  a  killed covering a Batlle in the Mekong Delta in 1965. In the True tradition of the War correspondent and a photographer Nick it stopped in and courageously took his brother a place. He was 17 years old. Eight years later Nick won a pulitzer prize Tor his photo  terrified vietnamese girl  Down a. Highway after an accidental napalm strike by South vietnamese bombers seared her body. Some War correspondents Are walking casualties. Their hearts and minds never quite make the transition Back to. What the gis in Vietnam called the real world a they Are unable to find their place or their meaning. Some Are unable to write again. Others like the old a soldiers in the Barracks ballads of another time just fade away. A r a a a. We take Pride in staying the course and pursuing the. Truth. We arc driven try belief in the people s right to in to we treasure the Competition among us As Well As the camaraderie. A a like old soldiers,.sometimes Boring Wilh their stories of wars we treasure the freewheeling adventuresome _ Heady spirit that enveloped us during the midst of Battle to be  out for reunions like yes to have to admit it a the old Grad who relives the 80-Yard touchdown run or the winning free throw at a Long ago basketball game. Remember seeing the correspondent John Van. Doom for the first time in 10 years after the Vietnam War ended. A. A a. A a a Quot there is somehow corny As it sounds a Bond among people who have gone to a War for whatever reason Quot he wrote after that meeting Quot i Felt it strongly., and fell like a talking on and on to someone who proceeded from the. Same foundation As f. Very  a a a. Most correspondents feel the compulsion to cover a wars in their gut but they Are hard put to explain Why. I finally found the answer in an interview Wilh a 22-year old army nurse who had come from upstate new York to. The mud monsoons and mortars of Vietnam to treat the wounded. A a a Jackie Navarra stood Over maimed soldiers trying to a Comfort them to choir them with her smile and wit within minutes they were gone but they did not die alone. She was at their Side a. I asked her Why she was there she said it was. Because she would never feel More worthwhile in her life