When a trooper captured my husband, Timothy, I said with my fiery temper: “I wouldn? na been taken by the likes of you.” When Timothy was acquitted, our marriage was disintegrated. After that, I was left to raise my 6 children alone. I was a brave woman who sewed the flag, survived the tough times and assisted with the amputation of Peter Lalor’s arm.
During World War II, a period of complete violence and outbreak between nations, there are many heroes that have endured through harsh brutalities. In Laura Hillenbrand’s monumental book Unbroken, she writes about the real life story of Louie Zamperini. As a young child, Louie was very mischievous and dangerous.” Hillenbrand states,” He hit one kid so hard that he broke his nose. He upended another boy and stuffed paper towels in his mouth… Louie beat one kid so badly, leaving him unconscious in a ditch, that he was afraid he’s killed him (pg 10).”
A soldier by the name of Joseph Plumb Martin used his experience during the Revolutionary War to inform the public about the hardships of a common soldier. He did this by giving one of the most accurate accounts of the campaigns in the Revolutionary army. Martin’s story began in the Northeast, specifically in New York. He dealt with starvation, fatigue, and lack of clothes. Martin overcame these obstacles and returned to the army after his first term of service expired.
The Civil War was the bloodiest battle in America filled with countless heros. One hero in particular sticks out for his courage, leadership, strength, honor, and bravery. This man is Joshua Chamberlain. He had a quite a simple life up until the Civil War, working and caring for his family. Ordinarily, that changed when he decided to become a soldier to keep the Union together.
We took them with us, and they survived the war.” This means that he could of died doing something that he didn 't even really enjoy doing. Those are a few (out of many) courageous things
“I never spent a thought about numbers; the Americans were invincible in my opinion. If anything affected me, it was a stronger desire to see them.” Continental Army soldier, Joseph Plum Martin shares his experience of the Revolutionary War through his book, Ordinary Courage. The bravery, courage, and patriotism expressed throughout the novel shows off Martin’s immense strength and perseverance. The soldiers fought through the trials of starvation, disease, lack of supplies, and vicious battles against the British troops.
In the early morning hours of May 15th, 1918, in the midst of war in France, a German raiding party approached a small outpost, stationed by just a few men. Private Henry Johnson, an American soldier assigned to the French Army, was the only line of defense for the outpost. Miraculously, his defense held. Using grenades, his rifle, and physical strikes with said rifle, he single-handedly repelled the raiders, defended the outpost, and saved his fellow soldiers from capture by the Germans. The vigilant combat he displayed had embodied his unit as a whole, the 369th Infantry Regiment, dubbed the “Harlem Hellfighters” for their place of creation, Harlem, and the nickname of “Hellfighters” given to them by their stunned German enemies.
Not soldiers but women and children, the old and the sick. Your father, he grew up this way. He saw this happen to his own family… Your father came here, as an orphan, but he never forgot who he was, where he came from. Never forgot about his home.”
Most people consider it an honour to be given the opportunity to fight for one’s country but in Tim’s case it is the opposite. He sees it as himself becoming “a coward” (187) by conforming to other’s expectations instead of fighting for his individual beliefs and “for more than twenty years [he’s] had to live with it” (172). The thought of throwing every one of his beliefs away and taking lives just to fit in is extremely degrading for him and makes him feel like the opposite of the hero he dreamed to be as a child. But it is this event that shows him what perseverance really is. Tim survives the war which itself is no easy task, but additionally he has to live with the feeling of betraying himself in the process.
In battle, there are many ways to be put in the wrong position. A few erratic decisions can cause lifelong problems. In “The Red Badge of Courage” Stephan Crane shows the many situations in battle during the Civil War in 1860. Henry Fleming, also known as “The Youth,” made many notable decisions that would consider him a coward rather than a hero. Henry demonstrates a coward because he ran during the battle, deserted the tattered soldier, and lied to the other soldiers.
The word hero is a controversial one in the sense that a hero is largely defined by the values of the culture using it. I myself define a hero as someone who is willing to sacrifice of themselves for the good of others. In some cultures, certain individuals could never be considered heroes simply because of their social status. Luckily, cultures can change, particularly if the individuals in the culture fight for that change. Sergeant William H. Carney, a member of the 54th Massachusetts regiment and the first African American to receive the medal of honor, is one of those who fought to change our culture’s values.
Every past and modern culture over the course of history, has its hero’s. A hero is a person or figure that others look up to and use as forms of protection. Many cherish the hero’s, they make up who we are today. The Anglo-Saxon hero, Beowulf, and the postmodern hero/hero’s, the soldiers, both show the traits of bravery, selflessness, and loyalty. To have the trait of bravery you have to have lots of confidence in yourself and have courage.
Stephen Crane’s short story “A Mystery of Heroism” portrays the hidden heroism act that revolves around the main character, Fred Collins. Collins is an infantryman in an unnamed war. As an ongoing battle rages, he watches from safety behind a hill where the infantry is stationed until. However, when he states that he wants a drink of water, he decides to face the battlefield in his search for anything to quench his thirst and runs through a battlefield to get to a well. Collins is portrayed as a brave and determined character who is willing to risk his life for a drink of water.
Why are veterans America's heroes? I know some of you think of superman or spider man. But just because they don’t necessarily halve super powers. Although veterans don't halve superpowers they are heroes in ways I will explain in my essay. One way veterans are heroes is because they are loyal because if they weren't loyal they would give away information to the side that we are trying to beat in war or combat.
It was 1944, a group of civilians would be fighting in WWII, between them there was a guy named Daniel Smith. He was a 21-year-old man, scrawny, weak, and scared of what could happen there. Nothing could let him know if he would be living after being in war. He got trained for some time and finally would have gotten to travel to the battlefield. Bombs, dead bodies, a sea of blood, Daniel couldn´t handle it, therefore he ran away and kept running until getting tired and lost in the woods.
