RICHMOND An Armed Forces Day welcome home parade in Richmond has honored returning Iraq War veterans.

CHESAPEAKE They were seven letters on the license plates: ICUHAJI. Phonetically, it could be read, "I see you, Haji." To the Department of Motor Vehicles, the message was considered offensive to Arab Americans and grounds for the tags' revocation.

By Tim Arango

BAGHDAD In the face of spiraling costs and Iraqi officials who say they never wanted it in the first place, the State Department has slashed - and might jettison entirely by the end of the year - a multibillion-dollar police training program that was to have been the centerpiece of a hugely expanded civilian mission here.

By Larry O'Dell RICHMOND A divided federal appeals court on Friday revived two lawsuits by former Iraqi detainees who alleged that civilian interrogators and translators participated in their torture at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, ruling that it's too early to consider dismissing the cases.

Jonathan Bartlett, an Iraq war veteran and double amputee who was featured in numerous Virginian-Pilot stories as he recovered from his injuries, died Tuesday at his home in Chesapeake. He was 27. Family members said he killed himself.

Editor's note: This story originally appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on Oct. 27, 2005. WASHINGTON They are proud, but that isn’t what they told Jon Bartlett on Wednesday as he left Walter Reed Army Medical Center after 13 months. No congratulations. No ”job well done.” No pats on the back for keeping his chin up when his spirits were down.

Editor's note: This story originally appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on Nov. 25, 2004. NORFOLK While volunteers worked at warp speed to make his parents’ house wheelchair-accessible, and an expert in a laboratory put the final touches on his new legs, Jon Bartlett spent Wednesday at one of his old haunts: Maury High School.

Editor's note: This story originally appeared in The Virginian-Pilot on Oct. 28, 2004. WASHINGTON Over the course of a few hours, a string of emotions rolls across Jonathan Bartlett’s face. Amazement. Anxiety. Pain. Anger, though, isn’t one of them. Neither is defeat.

VIRGINIA BEACH When the plane carrying Daryl Beamer home finally landed, the passengers around him scrambled to check messages and gather luggage. Beamer just waited. He had no cellphone and only a handful of belongings to his name. In the terminal at Norfolk International, he passed a soldier in uniform, and he thought, That should be me. That's how I wanted to come home.