Our war in Iraq has
produced true heroes. But you'd never know it by listening to our
news media.
Instead they give us soft-focus puff pieces. Instead, they give
us hours of coverage of malfeasance and missing munitions and
muffed chances. Instead they give us hero-substitutes who don't
meet the standards for real heroes.
Real heroes have a choice. Every Marine who slogged his
dangerous way through Fallujah got there by making a choice to
join the Marines. Heroes choose to act when others don't.
That's why most of the office workers in the World Trade Center
Towers on September 11 aren't heroes. Their deaths were tragic
and wrenching, but not heroic.
Real heroes take a risk. Every combat vet who went forward
when he could have stayed safe, every cop who chose to make a
car stop alone in the early hours, every firefighter who's ever
run into a building that others were fleeing will know what I
mean. Heroes make choices to assume a risk they could have avoided.
That risk doesn't have to be physical. Heroism can involve risk
to your reputation or your livelihood. But if there's no risk,
your actions may be laudable, but they aren't heroic.
Real heroes do something for someone else. Climbing a
mountain in dangerous conditions may be courageous, but it's not
heroic. Climbing that same mountain, in those same conditions
to rescue an injured hiker might be.
Real heroes do something significant. We call sports figures
"heroes" when all they've done is earn enough money to fund a
third world country by playing a game. They're not real heroes.
Real heroes choose to risk themselves to do something significant
for others. Marine Corporal Jason Dunham was a real hero.
On April 14, 2004, Corporal Dunham and other Marines were in
a firefight with the enemy in Karbala . An Iraqi dropped a live
grenade among the Marines. Corporal Dunham took off his helmet,
covered the grenade and then covered the helmet with his body.
He died in Bethesda Naval Hospital eight days later.
Corporal Dunham died so that others could live. So did Sergeant
First Class Paul Smith.
On April 4, near the Baghdad airport, Army Sergeant First Class
Paul Smith stayed at his machine gun post protecting medics as
they evacuated the wounded and defending the American position
that controlled access to the main road to the city against the
assault of over 100 Iraqis. He died at his post.
In the olden days feats like that would be celebrated with processions
and songs. The stories would be told over and over again. Today,
despite all kinds of embedded reporters wearing flak jackets you
have to hunt for the stories of real heroes.
There are lots of those stories. The heroes come in all sizes
and shapes and colors. The names are a litany of our blended nation:
Chontosh and Sikes and McCormick and Perez and Kerman and Martinez.
We need to hear their stories.
The stories of our heroes help us define who we are as a people.
We can say that "the price of freedom is paid in blood," but that
statement is a limp, pallid thing next to the stories of Dunham
and Smith who paid for our freedom with their own blood.
We can pretend that we can have everything we want without sacrifice.
But stories of real heroes and their families who give up life
itself and the promise of a future can reach us and touch us in
the depths of our hearts and souls.
Take the time to find a real hero's story. Ponder it. Tell it.
Talk about it. Then say a prayer of thanks for all the real heroes
you may never hear about.
Top of page
Ernie Pyle
was perhaps the greatest war correspondent. He told stories of heroes
and ordinary soldiers and the reality of war as well as anyone has
ever done it. My favorite among his books is "Here
is Your War."
I began writing this piece when I realized that I had only seen
a couple of stories in the mainstream media about American heroes
in the Iraq War and aftermath. As I was pulling this all together
yesterday, I came upon an excellent front page article in the
New York Times by Dexter Filkins. The title is "In
Falluja, Young Marines Saw the Savagery of an Urban War" and
it's as fine a piece of writing as you're likely to find. Ernie
Pyle would be pleased.
At the turn of the Century, Time
Magazine identified twenty people who articulate the longings
of the last 100 years, exemplifying courage, selflessness, exuberance,
superhuman ability and amazing grace, what Time calls "heroes."
Among the heroes listed on the Time site is The
American GI.
You will find details of the qualifications for the Medal of
Honor, America's highest award for valor on the Congressional
Medal of Honor Society site. There is also a list of recipients
and stories of their achievements. Corporal Dunham and Sergeant
First Class Smith have been nominated for the Medal of Honor.
Mark Bowden is another writer who understands heroes. His book,
"Black
Hawk Down" is about the American action in Somalia that resulted
in the award of Medals of Honor to Master Sgt. Gary Gordon and
Sgt. 1st Class Randy Shughart. These were the only Medals of Honor
awarded since Viet Nam.
Holocaust Heroes
is a recently launched site devoted to honoring the brave men
and women who risked their lives to rescue and shelter Jewish
refugees fleeing the Nazi reign of terror. A major thrust of its
mission will be to recognize the rescue activity of the many church
groups whose work has been marginalized by too many Holocaust
writers and historians.
23 November 2004
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