MAGETAN, Indonesia — An Indonesian military plane carrying troops and their families crashed into a row of houses and burst into flames Wednesday, killing at least 98 people, the latest in a string of accidents plaguing the beleaguered air force.

Bodies were found Wednesday of three of the five crew members who were aboard a Navy helicopter that crashed into the ocean southwest of San Diego, military officials said.

Under new policy put in place by President Barack Obama, families of fallen military personnel can decide whether to allow media coverage.

In her first solo trip outside Washington, First Lady Michelle Obama recently visited Fort Bragg, N.C. She used the opportunity to tout her commitment to the “plight of military families.“ In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,“ Mrs. Obama underscored how important it was that military families know they now have an ally in the White House.

After an alarming spike in soldier suicides in January, the Army says there were another 18 suspected suicides last month.

Lyle Graham, a University of Richmond student and football player in the late 1930s, appears on the Philadelphia Eagles player roster for 1941. His statistics don’t show that he was the first National Football League player to leave the league to join the military when the United States entered World War II. S. Lyle Graham became a Navy pilot, fighting in the Pacific, said his son, John R. Graham of Farmville. A crash of his PB4 patrol bomber resulted in the loss of his left arm and his potential career as a football player, though he was a scout for the Eagles for a time.

Retired Lt. Col. Henmar “Gabe” Gabriel, of Richmond’s Thomas Jefferson High School Class of 1954, was inducted into the Hall of Fame of Parachuting on Feb.14 in Felicity, Calif. He was inducted for his vision and fortitude in establishing the West Point Cadet Sport Parachute Team (skydiving) 50 years ago when he was a plebe at West Point.

Army Pfc. Travis Q. Johnson graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson, Columbia, S.C. He is the son of Ronald Johnson of Richmond. Johnson is a 2008 graduate of Highland Springs High School. Army Pvt. Michelle Hopkins graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson. She is the daughter of Alfred A. and Beverly Goode of Ettrick. Hopkins is a 2005 graduate of Matoaca High School.

Lefty Lefkowitz might have gone on to play third base as a Cincinnati Red. Instead he remained in Richmond as a Spider and fought in World War II as a Wildcat. Meyer B. Lefkowitz was a multisport star at Thomas Jefferson High School. He earned letters in baseball, basketball and football and as a senior was captain of the basketball team and was named to the all-state team. Scouts for the Cincinnati Reds were considering his third-base abilities.

Soldiers at Fort Lee will soon be afloat on a “hero boat,“ thanks to local boating-industry companies. Rugged Marine Supplies of Chester is donating the 19-foot Cobia runabout to the Army post in Prince George County. “For what the armed forces are doing for us, I thought that was the way to go,“ said Jeff Warriner, Rugged Marine’s general manager.

The Virginia Army National Guard will break ground tomorrow for a what could eventually be a $55 million training-center complex here. The project’s $25 million first phase includes construction of headquarters and education buildings for the 183rd Regional Training Institute, the state Guard’s primary training unit, at the post near Blackstone, the Guard said.

A veteran writes a book for children dealing with wartime separations.

“You are driving home, exhausted from work, lugging groceries and carrying your child in the back seat. Lights, police, and roadblocks await you. Your car is stopped, an armed officer comes over, and you must roll down your window. Your child begins crying. You must now prove to the police officer’s satisfaction that you have the right to drive down your own block.“

Rebecca Sisson was a teacher and nurse in her 20s when she and a hospital co-worker decided to try something fun, interesting and challenging. So they joined the Virginia Air National Guard. They had served for about three years as the first and only female members of the 192nd Tactical Fighter Group when they were interviewed in 1968 by a Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter. Their main responsibilities were teaching, supervising and giving vaccinations, they said. The two young, single officers—Sisson was a lieutenant, her friend a captain—said they were not intimidated by the 600-to-2 male-female ratio of the unit.

ROANOKE Her husband, Gary, was in Iraq. Her twins were newborn, one of them still recovering from emergency surgery. And the little stone house the couple had just purchased in western Roanoke County was uninhabitable, a complete wreck. Anastasia Thompson was living with her babies in the converted-garage apartment of her mother-in-law’s home, several miles away.