CRICQUEVILLE-EN-BESSIN, France — World War II veterans and Sen. John Kerry are commemorating the D-Day landings in Normandy at an iconic and eroding cliff.
The visit is one of several events along the coast Monday marking 67 years since Allied forces landed on a swath of beaches in Nazi-occupied France. The June, 6, 1944, invasion and ensuing battle for Normandy helped change the course of the war.
Kerry and the veterans are visiting Pointe du Hoc, where elite U.S. Rangers scaled jagged cliffs in one of the most trying missions of the invasion.
The limestone and clay cliffs have eroded by 33 feet since D-Day.
Pointe du Hoc reopened to the public in March after extensive restoration efforts, organized by the American Battle Monuments Commission. Some half a million people visit the site each year.
US couple threatens bank with foreclosure
ST. PETERSBURG, Florida — Months after Bank of America wrongly foreclosed on a house Warren and Maureen Nyerges had already paid for, they were still fighting to get reimbursed for the court battle.
So on Friday, their attorney showed up at a branch office in Naples with a moving truck and sheriff’s deputies who had a judge’s permission to seize the furniture if necessary. An hour later, the bank had written a check for $5,772.88.
“The branch manager was visibly shaken,” attorney Todd Allen said Monday, recalling the visit to the bank last week. “At that point I was willing to take the desk and the chair he was sitting in.”
After the moving company and sheriff’s deputies get their share, the Nyerges should receive the rest of the money this week, ending a bizarre saga that started when they paid Bank of America $165,000 cash for a 2,700-square-foot foreclosed home in Naples in 2009.
US Episcopal parish to join Catholic Church
NEW YORK — A Maryland Episcopal parish will be the first in the United States to join the Roman Catholic Church under a new streamlined conversion process created by Pope Benedict XVI, leaders of both church groups said Monday.
St. Luke’s Episcopal parish in Bladensburg will come under the care of Washington Catholic Cardinal Donald Wuerl, who is forming a U.S. ordinariate — effectively a national diocese — for Episcopalians converting under the pope’s plan.
Washington Episcopal Bishop John Chane, a leading liberal in his denomination, said Monday that he approved St. Luke’s decision and will allow the congregation to continue worshipping in their church under a lease with an option to buy the building.
Pope Benedict XVI in 2009 issued an unprecedented invitation for Anglicans to become Catholic while retaining some Anglican liturgical heritage.
Anglicans worldwide have been on the brink of schism over how to interpret what the Bible says about gay relationships, ordaining women and other issues. Critics accused the pope of poaching converts, but the Vatican said Benedict was only responding to requests from Anglicans.
Wildfire forces evacuation of another Arizona town
SPRINGERVILLE, Ariz. — Stiff winds whipped up a gigantic blaze in the mountains of eastern Arizona on Monday, forcing the evacuation of a third resort town and casting a smoky haze over states as far away as Iowa.
Winds of about 30 mph, with gusts above 60 mph, blew heavy smoke from the fire into Greer, a picturesque town where most of the 200 full-time residents had already fled. Everyone still there and in nearby area known as Sunrise were ordered to leave Monday afternoon.
Late Monday, a huge pall of black smoke loomed over the twin towns of Eager and Springerville, home to about 7,000 people, and sheriff’s officials told residents there to prepare to leave.
The winds and expected lightning are making matters worse in an area dotted with cabins and campgrounds that have long provided a cool summer getaway from the oppressive heat of the nearby desert.