ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 25, 1996 TAG: 9602280028
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: F-4 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
Q: Will you print the two-letter abbreviations the Postal Service wants us to use for our mail?
A: States: Alabama, AL; Alaska, AK; Arizona, AZ; Arkansas, AR; California, CA; Colorado, CO; Connecticut, CT; Delaware, DE; District of Columbia, DC; Florida, FL; Georgia, GA; Hawaii, HI; Idaho, ID; Illinois, IL; Indiana, IN; Iowa, IA; Kansas, KS; Kentucky, KY; Louisiana, LA; Maine, ME; Maryland, MD; Massachusetts, MA; Michigan, MI; Minnesota, MN; Mississippi, MS; Missouri, MO; Montana, MT; Nebraska, NE, Nevada, NV; New Hampshire, NH; New Jersey, NJ; New Mexico, NM; New York, NY; North Carolina, NC; North Dakota, ND; Ohio, OH; Oklahoma, OK; Oregon, OR; Pennsylvania, PA; Rhode Island, RI; South Carolina, SC; South Dakota, SD; Tennessee, TN; Texas, TX; Utah, UT; Vermont, VT; Virginia, VA; Washington, WA; West Virginia, WV; Wisconsin, WI; Wyoming, WY. Others: American Samoa, AS; Canal Zone, CZ; Guam, GU; Northern Mariana Islands, CM; Marshall Islands, MH; Puerto Rico, PR; Trust Territory of the Pacific, TT; Virgin Islands, VI.
Q: An old James Bond film shown on TV recently depicts the superliner Queen Mary on its side in Hong Kong harbor. Is it still there? What happened to it? I'm a World War II veteran and I went over on the Mary in 1943.
A: It was the Queen Elizabeth, not the Queen Mary. The Queen Mary is permanently moored as a hotel and tourist attraction in Long Beach, Calif. Mary Bakht, spokeswoman for the Hong Kong Tourist Association, said the Queen Elizabeth - not to be confused with the Queen Elizabeth II, its successor - caught fire in January 1972 while being refitted as a floating university and luxury cruise ship at a shipyard on Tsing Yi Island. The vessel was about to make a trial run when the fire broke out, reducing it to a capsized hulk. A large part of its hull is still buried in Hong Kong harbor, but most of the steel was salvaged for construction projects.
Q: My father was wounded in Germany in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart, but he lost it a year later. Can I get a duplicate?
A: Yes. Put all the pertinent information in writing and mail to: U.S. Army Reserve Personnel Center, Attn: DARP-VSE-A, 9700 Page Ave., St. Louis, Mo. 63132-5200. When the information is verified, the Purple Heart will be replaced at no cost. Information: 314-538-4122 (but you'll still need to write).
Q: What makes up the Dow Jones average?
A: The current lineup of ``30 industrials'' stocks: Allied-Signal, Alcoa, American Express, AT&T, Bethlehem Steel, Boeing, Caterpillar, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Disney, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, Exxon, General Electric, General Motors, Goodyear, IBM, International Paper, McDonalds, Merck, Minnesota Mining & Manufacturing, J.P. Morgan, Philip Morris, Procter & Gamble, Sears, Texaco, Union Carbide, United Technologies, Westinghouse and Woolworth.
Q: What is the U.S. government's fiscal year?
A: Oct. 1 through Sept. 30. So fiscal 1996 began Oct. 1, 1995, and ends Sept. 30, 1996.
Q: Where can I call to order John Lennon commemorative stamps?
A: Call 800-322-8900 or 800- 348-7727. Stamps and first-day cover collections are issued by Antigua and Barbuda, Azerbaijan, Ghana, Guyana, Nicaragua, Maldives, Mali and Palau. Costs range from $9.95 to $529.95.
Q: I've been wearing a POW-MIA bracelet since the 1970s for a lieutenant colonel. I wrote to the military records center in St. Louis, and I received a form letter back saying the Defense Department Privacy Program prohibits the release of information. Can you help?
A: The Library of Congress maintains a World Wide Web site to help Internet users track down information about prisoners of war or those listed as missing in action: http://www.loc.gov/
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