MikeK
Gold Member
Rather than quarrel about who is or isn't a hero I believe the intent of this discussion is to properly define what heroism is and is not. At this stage in the argument it occurs to me that a component missing from the definition is the reason for such heated disagreement and I believe that component is an emotional connection to the word.
When Pearl Harbor was bombed I was too young to comprehend the nature of war but I do have some fragmented recollection of the effect it had on the atmosphere of my own environment. That effect was fearful excitement and dark anticipation.
My father and uncle left and my mother, my aunt and my grandmother cried a lot. Men from all the families around us left. As time went on the fear became more pronounced and I recall the evening ritual of listening to Gabriel Heatter's War News on the big wooden radio in our parlor. I don't think I intelligently understood what he talked about but I was in tune with the emotions his words evoked in the adults who listened intently. There was fear and apprehension. And in the early stages of the war the news was almost always bad.
The war brought about many changes in everyone's daily lives. There was rationing of food and gasoline (for those who had cars). Ladies could not get stockings, any kind of metal things were hard to come by and there were daily scrap drives. Kids like my brother and me were given buckets at school with which we went around to stores and knocked on doors to collect metal and rubber which was picked up next day by men in trucks.
There were blackouts and searchlights in the night sky during the frequent air-raid drills. My aunt took a job working nights at the Brooklyn Navy Yard where she installed cots in troop compartments of warships. We were given booklets at school and every day the teachers collected dimes and issued "defense stamps" to be pasted in them. When the books were filled they were exchanged for $25 "War Bonds" (now U.S. Savings Bonds).
Every home that had family serving overseas had a little flag in their front window with a blue star for every member serving and a gold star for every member killed or missing. The number of gold stars increased as time went on and I remember the fear people had of the Western Union lady who brought the black-bordered telegrams. They hated to see her coming.
Every minute of every day held some level of conscious awareness that there were powerful armies which were capable of invading and occupying our country. We missed our fathers, uncles, brothers and cousins every day but much moreso on days like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Those were the worst days. Lots of sadness and crying. The most compelling awareness was that the only thing protecting us from the Nazis and the Japs were our soldiers and sailors who were being killed every day and every night to keep us safe at home.
I could say much more about what I'm able to recall of the War years but the point I'm trying to make is that we all were touched by it in very real, tangible and meaningful ways. It affected all of our lives in some way, every day. The fighting was always in our thoughts and we all experienced apprehension.
All of that and much more comprised a powerful emotional component that imparted a clear and unequivocal meaning to the word hero. Our warriors were heroes who protected us from very real and very menacing enemies who had planes, ships and vast, well-trained armies.
That was war. And there was no question about what heroes are, and why.
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