Off Duty

Just a short drive from greater Orlando’s theme park zoo is a region touted as “Orlando’s Oasis.” Indeed, visiting places such as the historic town of Sanford is like stepping back into Old Florida — and I don’t mean that in a geriatric sense.

The newest product from Boundary Oak Distillery is connected with the legendary life of a World War II combat hero. But it also is rooted in Hardin County tourism and a life-long friendship that began in elementary school.

Do your research before handing your military valuables over to a consignment shop or auctioneer.

“War Dogs ” is too good of a true story not to get the Hollywood treatment, even if the outcome doesn’t entirely do justice to the moral ambiguities and larger geopolitical implications of one of the craziest hustles in modern American history.

“At first he didn’t want to talk. He was very blunt and one-worded. Very closed off.”

Navy veteran Del Francis is riding so that others will remember his lost shipmates.

In the end, Alan Seeger’s bones could no longer be distinguished from those of his Foreign Legion comrades who had fallen alongside him in one of the most brutal battles of World War I.