Just What Is a Hero?

Well our friend Mr. Webster has several definitions but most notably is, "A man noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, esp. one who has risked or sacrificed his life: a war hero"
Over the months as I've read the numerous threads as posted, I truly begin to wonder where the focus of the above definition has gone? The forum here has dealt with everything from objects of interest to historical events and from individuals seeking information about a long lost loved one to what would've changed the tide of war.
However, there have been quite a few threads in which someone attempts to slander a particular ace in favor of another or perhaps spend a great deal of time discussing who or what is the best and worst. (and I'll gladly admit that I'm as guilty as the next). This brings me to the point of this thread.
Can anyone imagine the daily fear of flying high in a tinder-box waiting for that inevitable bullet to set the whole works a blaze and then quite literally burn to death because there's no escape? Or how about taking off in a wire contraption only to fly along and have one of those precious wires snap w/o warning plunging you to your death out of control? Still not good enough?...How about just on take off you wait for the cough and splutter of a stalled engine and then the horrible following of dead silence.
Yet we sit here (being desk jockey's) and poke criticism of these men and their ships who risked everything for King and country often not even knowing what the war was really about. Yeah sure it's true that there were those individuals that could be construed as blood thirsty or those that claimed downed foes for victories when they shouldn't have but just take a moment to ponder these things.
An 'ACE' was first derived from someone considered a highly skilled flier. Then it became attached to either 5 or 10 confirmed victories. So now you're in the middle of a dogfight and a plane you're shooting at goes down out of control. You and your squadron mates believe it to crash and so it is construed a victory. Maybe the poor guy had had enuf and decided to fake getting out or maybe he had some other trouble. Is it fair to criticize when these inaccuracies are a simple fact of war?
I look back and read such criticisms of these aviators, the planes they flew, or even the books written about them and the only questions that come to mind are, "Could I have done it?" or "Could I have written that book" or "Would I be thought of as a Hero?"
So who's the hero? Is a Hero a guy by the name of Micheal Jordan (who I personally believe is a fabulous athelete) who has been dubbed on radio and TV and in books as an American Hero? I think about dozens of soldiers who died for their country not even knowing why and they never were given this honor yet here is a man who makes more money than you & I will ever know doing something for pure sport and is called an American Hero. Next he'll be given the Medal of Honor! Or what about the 'Flying Tigers' (again I personally believe them to be a regal bunch) but has anyone considered that they were merely hired assassins being paid $500 for each plane shot down. What about those 800 some sailors from the capsized 'Indianapolis' who swam haplessly in shark infested waters watching one by one as their friends screamed and were gone in a grusome horror until only 300 or so were left to be rescued? We should never ever forget the horrors of war as there is nothing glamorous about it. How many of you watched 'NUREMBURG' on TNT this past weekend? Can you imagine being thrown into a furnace...alive? Those children didn't do anything to anybody and yet this is what happened to them. About 15 years ago I watched some news magazine on TV where they interviewed teenages in highschools and asked them what they thought about murder. Many of them said, when asked if they felt murder was wrong, "well If the person felt it was justified in their own mind then they are not guilty of murder."
So who are the hero's?
I could not write a book to the level of detail as many as those I've seen w/o some error, I could not take to the air and die in a fiery craft. So really...who are we to criticize?
I certainly am not a hero. I'm a desk jockey that loves to play RB2/3 being a fearless 'virtual reality' conqueror of the sky who models WWI aircraft as a hobby and poors through literature because it's interesting. I've not done one thing that would even come close to putting me in a cockpit to risk my life for my country for an unknown cause. How many of you out there in formity land fit this description? Do you consider yourself a Hero?

On the one hand, it's easy to admire the fearless self-sacrafices made by a war hero. Such admiration is a reason why people visit this site.

Regarding war heroes, the Swiss are the only people who fit a personal definition. They seem to be the only people who do not allow themselves to be hyped into a mental state to feel 'good', 'manly' and 'heroic' about killing their fellow man, simply because this "enemy" happens to live on the other side of an arbitrary boundary. I dont know to what extent Swiss neutrality is influenced by geography, financial considerations, and/or morality, but the result seems to be the correct one.

However, a country must be prepared to deal with an aggressor. If you cant do it yourself, hopefully money can buy happiness. Let the countries whose people feel good about killing themselves do all the dirty work, if it must be done.

Try nurses ambulance crew and firefighters.

I'll agree with you that the term "hero" gets thrown around much too loosely far too often. You most often hear it on your evening news. Today it is normally used to describe someone who has saved someone else's life. Certainly risking your own life to save another, especially in combat like so many have, deserves some recognition but I think after all these years without a really BIG war like WW2 or Korea or even Vietnam, the term has lost a lot of definition. Of course, if saving another person's life is criteria for being a hero, then most surgeons and doctor's are heros as well as paramedics and cops etc. SO.... Its all semantics. I will tell you this however, knowing what I now know about the danger of flight in the early days, I would have opted to NOT be a hero. About two years ago I posted a thread here where I polled everyone by asking if they had a chance to reverse time and fly in WWI, would they. Not surprisingly, most said HELL NO.

Most war hero's get that title posthumously. However, I am never unmoved by extraordinary acts of bravery and sometimes wonder how I would have reacted in similar situations. Most heros don't realize they are about to become one when they do what they do to rate that title. All I can say is that, as a veteran myself, I look at those who have served and risked their lives to preserve whatever cause they were tasked with with deep admiration and respect. I served in the Gulf War and had a rather obscure brush with a SCUD missle and that was enough to get my blood pressure up. Its hard to imagine flying at 10,000 feet in a wooden and linen contraption while being swarmed upon and shot at by other wooden and linen contraptions. It was all about survival up there. For every man that dared venture up into the treacherous depths of the open blue, I salute you.

[Barrett]

After the umpteenth time I heard OJ described as "a sports hero" (repeat after me: There Is No Such Thing) I wrote an editorial for the Tailhook journal titled "Heroism 101."
To quote: "Unless the penalty for failure in an endeavor involves death, dismemberment, or torture, it is not heroic and needs to be called something else."
Carrier aviators seem to subscribe to that definition.

[stephen]

I might add...

"and unless the fate of the lives of others depend on your success."

A guy who saves his own skin is only a hero if helping someone else is what got him into the whole mess to begin with.

"A champion rises above the people; a hero raises the people with him" - statement (more or less accurate) recalled from a History Channel docmentary

[mike_baram]

Anyone who has seen my site knows who I regard as heroes.
Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain certainly qualifies. When faced with repeated attacks, defending a small hill top and knowing that failure would expose the Union flank, and down to his last few bullets, it took tremendous courage and self-assuredness to order a bayonet charge. That act alone would qualify him, and the entire 20th Maine, as heroes.
Winston Churchill: It reaquired a leader of heroic stature to keep England from collapsing in 1940. And if the other side had won, Winnie would have probably paid with his life.
Just rising above the ordinary and making a change in the course of events, when failure means death, would qualify one as a "hero".

What is a hero? Interesting question! What a hero to me is one who is willing to risk his life in an act of moral courage! Combatting a wrong albeit in war or in the everyday civilian world, that the right may prevail and the innocent may live. For example, the average soldier/sailor in WW1 or WW2 who answered his country's call and fought against tyranny! The cop who goes out and risks his life in a daily struggle against criminals. The Vietnam Combat vet who fought an unseen enemy in the jungle, then fought the domestic enemies back in the States just because he answered the call of his country. The men who fought the flight deck fire on the USS NIMITZ, the night of November 30th, 1988 that the whole ship would survive. Those who conscientiously risk their lives to carry out any task in the face of mortal danger ... that pretty much qualifies one for status as a hero. Sure it is easy to call all the pilots heroes, they were in a high profile job. But do not forget the Poor B-stard Infantryman in the field or jungle, living in squalor, with fear and death as constant companions on a daily basis. Nor should you forget the sailors who fought in the ships, many times going down with them with no granite monuments to mark their sacrifice. Let's not forget those unlucky enough to be captured by the Japanese during WW2, theirs was a lot that not many of us would relish.
Someone called the Flying Tigers paid mercenaries but I think the Chinese people would tend to say they were heroes. Why? Because they had the courage to go to the aid of these people when the rest of the world set back and watched as the Japanese went on a rampage of destruction, death, and torture. Is $500 a month worth your life? It really depends what you hold in higher value.

When it all comes out in the wash, it's about character and moral values, and the courage to stand for your convictions even at the risk of your own life.

Regards,
Jim 'ACE' - NNWA 'KEEPERS OF THE DRAGON'

[Shooter]

I am glad you came in on this one, Jim.

I am a romantic in a lot of ways. I think that being slain in defense of a cause is much better than dying of hemmoroids.

I believe that there is no more noble purpose in life than to die in the defense of your buddies. I have a case in point: 2dLt John P. Bobo USMC.

Lieutenant Bobo found himself in an impossible situation on the evening of 30 Mar 67. As platoon leader of Weapons Platoon India 3/9, Mister Bobo was third in command of his company, behind CO and the XO. While the rifle platoons of India Company were setting up a "wagon-wheel" ambush around the command element and the men of Wpns Plt, a reinforced NVA company struck the hub of this tactic with the greatest possible violence in the last moments of daylight. The CO was killed in the opening minutes (Navy Cross winner), as well as the XO, and the first shirt (1stSgt) was seriously wounded (also Navy Cross winner).

Mister Bobo rallied the men of Wpns Plt to resist the NVA attack until he was wounded by an exploding NVA mortar shell that ripped off his leg below the knee.

Despite a field dressing and a pressure bandage, Mister Bobo's wound leaked out his life's blood at a lethal flow, and he could only staunch that flow by jamming his stump into the earth. He took up an automatic weapon (legend says it was an M1A1 Thompson--a worthy weapon if ever there was--but I cannot say for certain) and defended his position against impossible odds while his Marines evacuated the wounded to a pre-designated LZ for helo-evac.

After the battle ended, during the dawn of the next morning, Mister Bobo was found dead of numerous Communist gunshot wounds. Distributed around his body was a whole @#$%LOAD of dead Communists soldiers with .45 caliber bullet holes in their rotting carcasses.

THAT is courage, ladies and gentelmen. THAT is a hero.

No greater love hath a man than to lay down his life in defense of a friend (or a buddy)!

Shooter sends