Do you have a "hero" in your family?

[tigerbob]

I always find it heart-warming to read stories about people who have put the welfare of others above their own. Whether it is something newsworthy (somebody rescuing a stranger from real peril at risk of injury to themselves)....

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/03/nyregion/03life.html

...or just someone who has freely given their time or money over many years to help the poor, disadvantaged or unfortunate.

Make It Matter: Rays of Hope | Inspiring People | Reader's Digest

As there are plenty of people on this MB, I thought maybe some of us would have stories to share. I have one about my paternal Grandfather, Tom, which I was reminded of by a few posts I just read on another thread by Diuretic and Editec......

 

[tigerbob]

Tom was a pilot. Not the kind who flies airplanes, the kind that guides boats and ships.

He retired from his job at the Port of Liverpool in the early 1930s, but was still always a big fan of boats and travelled the length and breadth of Britain visiting friends in port towns.

A few years later, England declared war on Germany. England was, to put it bluntly, hopelessly unprepared for the struggle they were about to face.

In 1939, several hundred thousand British and Commonwealth troops (known as the B.E.F.) were sent to France to meet the impending German advance. When the advance came, the Germans went through the BEF like a hot knife through butter. By late spring, the remnants of the BEF had retreated to the beaches of the English Channel and over 300,000 of them, cold, hungry, exhausted and with most of their weapons and ammo lost in the headlong retreat, were trapped with their backs against the sea at a place called Dunkirk with the seemingly invincible German army surrounding them on all sides. There was no shelter and the bombing, shelling and strafing was continuous. It must have been a living hell.

Faced with imminent capture, it appeared Britain was about to be defeated little more than six months after war had been declared. Morale in the country was lower than can possibly be imagined, and the apologists were stridently making their case to sue for peace and leave Germany unchallenged, with all western Europe under its boot. Had this happened, with the U.S. still 18 months away from entering the war, Germany would have had time to consolidate before deciding whether to attack Russia and fight a war on only one front.

The Royal Navy controlled the channel and many big ships were lying a mile or two offshore. The problem was that they couldn't get in close enough to get the trapped men off the beaches. It was at this point, in late May, that a signal went out from the Admiralty to ports around Britain asking for any boats than could get in close to be mustered. By any boats, they really did mean any boats.

Grandpa Tom who still had many friends in the Liverpool boatyards heard about this immediately. Along with about a dozen others he took a train across country to a place called Ramsgate. He presented himself at the naval office there, indicating that he had spent a lifetime piloting in shallow waters. He was assigned to pilot a 40 foot private boat owned by a retired businessman whose name, alas, I have forgotten.

Along with about 120 other such craft, he left Ramsgate for Dunkirk on May 29th - his 70th birthday. He and his boat spent the next 5 days under ferocious enemy fire going in to the beaches, picking up about 40 men at a time and ferrying them out to the waiting Navy ships. On countless occasions the men they plucked from the water bled to death before they could reach the Navy ships. Many had terrible wounds and limbs missing.

Despite the heroic efforts of the RAF to protect them from the Luftwaffe,, many of the little ships were sunk and their civilian crews killed including, on June 3rd, just after dawn apparently, my Grandfather. Nobody saw what happened. One moment he was there, the next he was gone. There was no time to look for him and his body, along with those of so many others, was never found.

By June 4th however, the "little ships of Dunkirk" and their navy counterparts rescued a third of a million men from certain death or capture. The will of Britain to fight on was reinforced, the apologists were silenced and on that day, Churchill, who had been Prime Minister for only a few weeks, rose from his seat in the house of commons and said...

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I like to feel that my Grandfather played his part. Well done Tom.

 

[manu1959]

Letter from Reverend Plants to the Governor

not sure it makes him a hero....but he did help this guy.....

 

[AllieBaba]

My brother once ran a half mile with a severed artery in his upper arm, after being blown up by a dynamite cap. the other guy who had been jack hammering with him in the hole had his foot blown off and a huge hole in his gut. My brother and the jackhammer were thrown up and out, and about 30 feet away. Brother got to his feet, grabbed his arm and started running.

Certainly a testament to his bravery...sadly, also a testament to stupidity. Never work a jackhammer in a hole where there might be un-detonated blasting caps, for a company that doesn't bother with the niceties such as LICENSING to use dynamite.

Flipping morons.

 

[Amanda]

Every male in my family has served this country. They, and everyone else that has served or is serving is a hero to me.

 

[tigerbob]

Letter from Reverend Plants to the Governor

not sure it makes him a hero....but he did help this guy.....

That is one of the most bizarre stories I've ever read. Quite frightening at times.

 

[tigerbob]

My brother once ran a half mile with a severed artery in his upper arm, after being blown up by a dynamite cap. the other guy who had been jack hammering with him in the hole had his foot blown off and a huge hole in his gut. My brother and the jackhammer were thrown up and out, and about 30 feet away. Brother got to his feet, grabbed his arm and started running.

Certainly a testament to his bravery...sadly, also a testament to stupidity. Never work a jackhammer in a hole where there might be un-detonated blasting caps, for a company that doesn't bother with the niceties such as LICENSING to use dynamite.

Flipping morons.

What happened to the other guy? I can scarcely believe they both survived if they drilled through a blasting cap.

 

[manu1959]

Letter from Reverend Plants to the Governor

not sure it makes him a hero....but he did help this guy.....

That is one of the most bizarre stories I've ever read. Quite frightening at times.

my dad had lots of clients like that.....hazzards of being a criminal defense attorney.....

 

[AllieBaba]

My brother once ran a half mile with a severed artery in his upper arm, after being blown up by a dynamite cap. the other guy who had been jack hammering with him in the hole had his foot blown off and a huge hole in his gut. My brother and the jackhammer were thrown up and out, and about 30 feet away. Brother got to his feet, grabbed his arm and started running.

Certainly a testament to his bravery...sadly, also a testament to stupidity. Never work a jackhammer in a hole where there might be un-detonated blasting caps, for a company that doesn't bother with the niceties such as LICENSING to use dynamite.

Flipping morons.

What happened to the other guy? I can scarcely believe they both survived if they drilled through a blasting cap.

They actually didn't drill through it, they concussed it until it blew up somewhere under them (there was some dirt/rock between them)

The other guy had a big chunk of rock essentially sever his lower leg about halfway up the shin, then it hit his huge belt buckle and drove it into his gut about 5 inches.

If it wasn't for that stupid trucker buckle he'd have died. As it was, he's on disability for the rest of his life, if he's even still alive.

Still, he would have died right there and then if my brother hadn't run for help.

 

[tigerbob]

My brother once ran a half mile with a severed artery in his upper arm, after being blown up by a dynamite cap. the other guy who had been jack hammering with him in the hole had his foot blown off and a huge hole in his gut. My brother and the jackhammer were thrown up and out, and about 30 feet away. Brother got to his feet, grabbed his arm and started running.

Certainly a testament to his bravery...sadly, also a testament to stupidity. Never work a jackhammer in a hole where there might be un-detonated blasting caps, for a company that doesn't bother with the niceties such as LICENSING to use dynamite.

Flipping morons.

What happened to the other guy? I can scarcely believe they both survived if they drilled through a blasting cap.

They actually didn't drill through it, they concussed it until it blew up somewhere under them (there was some dirt/rock between them)

The other guy had a big chunk of rock essentially sever his lower leg about halfway up the shin, then it hit his huge belt buckle and drove it into his gut about 5 inches.

If it wasn't for that stupid trucker buckle he'd have died. As it was, he's on disability for the rest of his life, if he's even still alive.

Still, he would have died right there and then if my brother hadn't run for help.

Oh my God! He owes your brother big time.

 

[alan1]

1989, Santa Cruz Ca, the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake.
My dad was stepping out of a 7-11 store just as the earthquake struck. A child of about 6 years of age panicked and attempted to run into the store. My dad grabbed the boy, picked him up and walked away from the store. My dad was hit by flying glass from the store windows, as were many other people both inside and outside of the store. The boy was protected from harm in my fathers arms, and was returned to his mother after the quake was over.
My dad never thought he did anything special. Was it heroic? Maybe not. Maybe the child wouldn't have been hurt. At the least, it was a selfless act to help an innocent child.

 

[tigerbob]

1989, Santa Cruz Ca, the 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake.
My dad was stepping out of a 7-11 store just as the earthquake struck. A child of about 6 years of age panicked and attempted to run into the store. My dad grabbed the boy, picked him up and walked away from the store. My dad was hit by flying glass from the store windows, as were many other people both inside and outside of the store. The boy was protected from harm in my fathers arms, and was returned to his mother after the quake was over.
My dad never thought he did anything special. Was it heroic? Maybe not. Maybe the child wouldn't have been hurt. At the least, it was a selfless act to help an innocent child.

And that's exactly the point. He did it because it was the right thing to do. Good for your dad. And I'll bet the kid's parents still think about him and say a quiet "thank you" every now and again.

 

[alan1]

And that's exactly the point. He did it because it was the right thing to do. Good for your dad. And I'll bet the kid's parents still think about him and say a quiet "thank you" every now and again.

My parents generation just did things like that. Because they were the right thing to do. And they did it without question in their minds.
Sadly, I think many people are not like that anymore.

 

[eots]

I say this in all modesty..but i come from a family of heros..its in the blood ..we have always been the type to instinctively run toward Danger.. rather than from it..like it is some in born duty..probaly why my father and one brother had careers in milatery and law enforcement..but regardless myself and my two brothers and father have all received citations and recognition in life saving life and intervention in crimes occurring in public...my father tended to divide people into two category's regardless of their circumstance or standing... those that would run into fire to save child and those that would trample over them to save their own ass...

 

[tigerbob]

And that's exactly the point. He did it because it was the right thing to do. Good for your dad. And I'll bet the kid's parents still think about him and say a quiet "thank you" every now and again.

My parents generation just did things like that. Because they were the right thing to do. And they did it without question in their minds.
Sadly, I think many people are not like that anymore.

I remember when I was 17, a friend of mine called Paul and I were at a local fair. His Mom was running a thing where they gave bus rides to little kids (3 and 4 year olds) on a mini double-decker London bus with an open top. We were a bit wasted and decided (for no reason other than we were stupid teens and a bit bored) that we would go on the bus as well. So we sat on the top deck as it went round the field.

Suddenly the bus ground to a halt. We thought nothing of it until we heard screams from the far end of the field, at which point we turned round and saw the back of the bus had caught fire. It wasn't a very big fire, more smoke than flames, but the back of the bus was where the stairs were and by this stage the parents were charging across the field towards us, some clearly in a state of absolute terror.

I jumped over the side (the top deck was only about 7ft high), and Paul stood on top and handed the kids down to me. We got them all off in plenty of time and calmly walked away from the bus. A bunch of parents came and thanked us and we were slightly bemused about it, thinking it was really no big deal. Then, what seemed like ages later (but I was told it was really only about 45 seconds) the back of the bus exploded. Because we were (a) stoned, and (b) dumb teenagers, it had never occurred to us that there was gas in the tank and that the tank was under the stairs where the fire was. Had we known, we would still have done it, but would probably have been a damn sight less casual about it. Thinking back on it now it's almost surreal, as though it happened in another lifetime.

I'm also thankful to a couple of other people...

In Switzerland in about 1990, my brother went to a fancy dress party dressed in a Lion costume. The party was lit mostly by candles and when his fur came too close to one of them he went up in flames - apparently (I wasn't there) it was like a scene from a movie, as he was completely engulfed in less than a second. Everyone started screaming except one waiter, who threw a pitcher of water onto a tablecloth, pulled it off the table and leapt on top of my brother, smothering the flames. My brother spent 3 weeks in hospital in Geneva with awful burns, but you couldn't even see them today. The waiter at least stopped him being scarred for life, and quite possibly saved his life.

In London about 8 years ago, my wife and I were in a park called Wandsworth Common. There's a big lake there and our daughter, who was 3 at the time was not looking where she was going, and walked straight off the path round the lake, falling into about 5ft of water. We were about 30 yards away and I had just started to run, when this guy appeared from nowhere, grabbed her by the collar and pulled her out. We got to her and hugged her for a few seconds and then, when I turned round to say "thank you" to the man, he had simply disappeared. There was nowhere for him to go but either one way or the other on the path, which I could see along for 100 yards in each direction, and which was bounded by the lake on one side and a fence on the other My daughter, now 11, still refers to him as her guardian angel.

 

[tigerbob]

I say this in all modesty..but i come from a family of heros..its in the blood ..we have always been the type to instinctively run toward Danger.. rather than from it..like it is some in born duty..probaly why my father and one brother had careers in milatery and law enforcement..but regardless myself and my two brothers and father have all received citations and recognition in life saving life and intervention in crimes occurring in public...my father tended to divide people into two category's regardless of their circumstance or standing... those that would run into fire to save child and those that would trample over them to save their own ass...

In that case, you have won not only citations but also the gratitude of the people you helped, which I would imagine is even more valuable.

 

[Terry]

My hero's are all Military too! I don't consider myself a hero for my act of trying to save a life, for it was just a normal reaction to help.