Veterans Remember the Alamo

--A tired group of Vietnam veterans, singing, “When Johnny Comes Marching Home,” arrived at the Alamo in San Antonio after a 300-mile, three-week walk across Texas. “We went through the blisters and colds and coughs,” said march organizer Michael Jay Martin of Dallas. “But we expected those hardships.” The march ended at the Alamo because, Martin said, there are a lot of similarities between the group and the mission’s defenders against Mexico in 1836. He called both groups “Raiders of the Lost Cause.” For about 10 miles of the trek, former Vietnam commander Gen. William C. Westmoreland led the marchers. The veterans plan a vigil at the Alamo until Veterans Day on Monday. Martin said the march was planned to draw attention to the estimated 2,500 Americans whose fate remains unknown in Southeast Asia. Organizers also wanted to point out physical and mental problems suffered by Vietnam veterans and their families. Martin said the toughest part of the march was “the indifference. I can’t abide the man who doesn’t give a damn.”

--Texas Gov. Mark White will make his acting debut on the television show “Dallas” Nov. 15. The scene, in which the governor will appear with a rodeo announcer, will last about 60 seconds at the most. White warned viewers: “You’d better stay glued to your set, or you’re likely to miss my TV debut.”

--A dance with a lonely Australian soldier 45 years ago has brought an unexpected inheritance to Evelyn Stewart of Melbourne. “There was never a hug or a kiss, no romance or anything like that. I suppose I was simply a friend when he needed one,” she said after lawyers tracked her down to tell her she was the sole beneficiary of Laurie Delaney’s will. “I have tried so hard to put a face to the name, but I can’t.” Delaney, who led a hermit’s life, left a farm worth more than $66,000 and almost $30,000 in savings. Stewart said she hoped to use the money to turn the property into a holiday camp for terminally ill children.

--A healthy girl was born Thursday to Sherry King, who had agreed to be impregnated with her brother-in-law’s sperm so her sterile sister could have a child. Kristen Jennifer was born at 3:35 a.m. at Malden Hospital in Malden, Mass. Carole Jalbert, who was present throughout the labor of her sister, exclaimed, “Oh, my baby! My baby!” when the 7-pound, 6 1/2-ounce girl was born, a hospital spokesman said. “To this day, I feel like an aunt,” King told reporters. “I was just baby-sitting.” The surrogate mother added that the delivery “hurt, but it was worth it.” Owen King, husband of the biological mother, said the child was “the culmination of a two-year project, with a pretty heavy emotional investment.”