SANTA ANA, Calif. — An 81-year-old man has been charged with the murder of his 94-year-old roommate at a Southern California rehabilitation center where the two were recovering from hip surgeries, authorities said.

Prosecutors said Monday that William McDougall became angry with 94-year-old Manh Van Nguyen, who was singing in their room in Vietnamese at the Palm Terrace Health Care Center in Laguna Woods.

A nurse saw the attack and employees of the rehabilitation center restrained McDougall, prosecutors said according to the Orange County Register.

McDougall is accused of taking a metal rod from the closet and hitting Nguyen multiple times on the head. Nguyen died at a hospital of blunt-force trauma to the head, the Register said.

The Register also reported that workers at Palm Terrace Health Care Center said the two men had not had any trouble previously.

McDougall faces 25 years to life in state prison if convicted of the Oct. 1 attack. He is being held at Orange County Jail on a $1 million bail, the Register said.

He is scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday in Santa Ana.

Source (article): MSNBC

Source (picture): BLOG.CAMERA.ORG

Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man’s-land, calling out “Merry Christmas” in their enemies’ native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.

The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the bloody conflict of World War I erupted in all its technological fury, and the concept of another Christmas Truce became unthinkable.

HISTORY.COM
Date: 2008-12-25