Collier - Choosing Courage: Inspiring True Stories of What It Means to Be a Hero

Choosing Courage

Inspiring Stories of What It Means to Be a Hero

Peter Collier

Published in collaboration with the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation

Contents

by Jonna Doolittle Hoppes

by Wesley L. Fox

by Jim Deister

by Leo K. Thorsness

by Juanita Milligan

by MattieMae Milligan

by Deb Dunham

by Allen Lynch

by Jack Jacobs

Introduction

When students are asked who their heroes are, they often mention athletes, singers, film stars, or other performers from popular culture whose lifestyles they envy. In fact, a real hero is a special breeda man or woman who acts on behalf of country, friends, or even strangers despite great risk to his or her own safety; someone who defends a good cause even when it seems no one else agrees; someone who decides to act when others wont and so changes the outcome of a critical situation.

Choosing Courage focuses on civilian and military heroes who have all these qualitiespeople who have been able to look inside themselves in crisis situations and find courage and selflessness, people who have the ability to think about others before themselves. Chief among them are the soldiers who have received the Medal of Honor, Americas highest military award for bravery under enemy fire. As you read about them, youll probably feel that what each of them did is almost beyond imaginingcharging an enemy position in the face of what seemed certain death, organizing a defense against an attack that threatened to completely destroy their unit, falling on a grenade that might have killed their buddies. Yet every one of these people insists that he isnt special or different, just an average guy who saw something that needed to be done and did it.

The Medal of Honor recipients you are going to read about all received military training that gave them confidence in their abilities and allowed them to remain cool under pressure. But training by itself cant create courage and selflessnessthe refusal to give up even though the odds seemed stacked against them, the unwillingness to give in to fear, the need to do the right thing even if it means losing their own lives. That strength comes from within.

Four soldiers who received the Medal of Honor for bravery in Vietnam, from left: , James Sprayberry, Robert Patterson, and Pat Brady.

A similar courage is sometimes seen in the actions of civilian heroes, seemingly ordinary people who do extraordinary things in their daily lives to make our world better. Their stories will also amaze you: the schoolteacher who put her body between a disturbed student with a gun and the other students he might injure or kill; the surgeon who travels the world at great personal risk to treat the poor and powerless caught up in bloody civil wars and natural disasters; a security director in one of the Twin Towers at the World Trade Center in New York City hit by terrorists on 9/11 who gave his life trying to make sure that all the people he was responsible for got out of the building alive. The Medal of Honor recipients honor such civilian heroes with special awards, both to recognize their bravery and to encourage others to act with courage and selflessness in times of crisis.

In this book you will also hear firsthand from others: Men who have received the Medal of Honor write about its meaning and how its lessons apply to the crises of daily life; the mother of a soldier who received the medal reflects on his service and his loss; a woman badly wounded in the war in Iraq remembers her experiences and reminds us of the courage of our injured warriors whose wounds, both physical and psychological, continue to affect their lives for years to come.

These people show that courage isnt something youre born with, but rather something you discover within yourself, that quiet voice that tells you to think of others before yourself when the chips are really down.

They demonstrate, too, that courage is contagious. Several of the people in this book were inspired by other medal recipients, whose bravery shows what is possible. You may never find yourself in similar situations, but you may discover, like them, that you are capable of doing great things, things you didnt think possible, when you choose courage.

At sixteen, Jack Lucas was so determined to fight for his country that he snuck aboard this troopship, the USS Deuel, to fight the Japanese in early 1945. Go to read his story.

World War II

The Good War

Many American soldiers had never left home before being sent to the distant battlefields of Europe. In May 1945, the 92nd Buffalo division of African American soldiers pursued the retreating Germans through Italys Po River valley.

World War II was seen as a battle of good against evil. Because the good, represented by the United States, Great Britain, France, Canada, Russia, and other nations dedicated to fighting tyranny and oppression, emerged victorious, it is often referred to as the good war.

Most historians date the beginning of the war to September 1, 1939, when dictator Adolph Hitler, Germanys head of state, ordered his countrys armies to invade Poland and declared war against Great Britain and France. Within a year, Germany controlled most of western and central Europe, including France; Great Britain was the only democracy continuing the fight against the Germans. In 1940 Germany formed a military alliance with Japan and Italy, called the Axis, and extended its reach from Europe to the Pacific Ocean. The United States and Great Britain, and later the Soviet Union, joined forces to oppose the Axis. They were known as the Allies.

In a morale-boosting poster, soldiers from the Allied countriesincluding the United States, Great Britain, and Russiaflank the V formed by flags of their nations. The V stands for victory over Japan and Germany, and over tyranny.