Heroes

Heroes, we never know who is going to be one. It could turn out to be someone who has never displayed the least bit of heroism and yet risks everything in a moment of sublime glory without regard for his or her wellbeing and with the only reason being the betterment of one or more others. We have seen it with firemen, when hundreds in New York rushed in the burning Twin Towers at the World Trade Center and did it with the goal in mind of rescuing everyone in the two buildings. They did it without regard for their own lives and were only concerned with saving the lives of others. People all over the world watched as these brave firemen rushed into the buildings. People all over the world have said it was unbelievable bravery and they had never seen anything like it before. This bravery was responsible for many people being rescued who would have otherwise died, but it eventually cost the lives of an incredible 343 New York City firemen, a number that hopefully will never be equaled again.

In battle some people have displayed incredible heroism prompted by the wish to save their comrades. Take the case of Audie Murphy in World War II. He was just a kid from Texas. His full name was Audie Leon Murphy. He had been taught by his family to be an exceptionally good shot and I am sure this came in handy for him in the war. His feats in the war became legendary. Not only did he kill or capture many Germans and a few Italians, but the story of him holding off a large German force while using a machine gun on a burning tank is legendary. The whole time he was on the burning tank it was in danger of exploding, but he paid no attention to that fact and felt it was worth taking the chance to hold back the attacking force. In one battle his force was attacked by a German sniper group. He managed to capture two of the snipers, but was shot. He still managed to shoot the third sniper between the eyes killing him instantly. Murphy not only won the Medal of Honor along with many other American medals, but he also won many French ones including the Croix de guerre with Palm.

What if I told you there was an incredible hero from the former Soviet Union who was responsible for preventing World War III due to his bravery? It is very true and this hero’s name is Stanislav Petrov. On September 26th, 1983, at 12:40 AM, a Soviet Oko satellite detected a missile launch from Malmstrom Air Force Base in Montana, the main U.S. intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) field. In 20 minutes the missile would impact in Russian territory. Lt. Colonel Stanislav Petrov had traded shifts with the officer in charge of computer verification and reporting of missile launches against the Soviet Union. The Soviet strategy was in the event of a missile attack, massive retaliation of the entire missile force would be used. Alarms started to go off and huge red letters spelling START flashed on his computer console. The computer had reported a launch form the US and he had only 10 minutes to verify it. He was only a cog in the wheel, but he was one of the most important cogs. He agonized for a few minutes then decided it must be some sort of glitch since, he reasoned, we would not only launch one missile if we were starting a war. Even though he was exceeding his authority he called his superiors and told them it was a computer malfunction.

A few minutes later disaster struck again. The computer was registering 4 more American missile launches at Russia. Again the sirens blared only this time the computers at the Russian supreme command also showed the launches. Again he got on the phone and swore it was only a computer malfunction. His word was accepted. The whole Russian military watched as the computer showed the missiles nearing Russia. No one was absolutely sure what was going to happen, but the Russians had decided to take the chance based on Petrov's word and finally it was over, there were no missiles. What had happened was the software had misinterpreted the sunlight reflecting off of some clouds as a missile plumes. Six hours later, a general approached Petrov and berated him, stating he was not worthy of his position. He was removed to a less sensitive position and within one year he was out of the military. The last I heard was he was living on a tiny pension.

One of my boyhood heroes was Charles E. Yeager. The world's first man-made sonic boom told the story. On Oct. 14, 1947, over dry Rogers Lake in California, Chuck Yeager rode the X-1, attached to the belly of a B-29 bomber, to an altitude of 25,000 feet. After releasing from the B-29, he rocketed to an altitude of 40,000 feet. Moments later he became the first person to break the sound barrier, safely taking the X-1 he called "Glamorous Glennis" to a speed of 662 mph, faster than the speed of sound at that altitude. His first words after the flight were, "I'm still wearing my ears and nothing else fell off neither." Yeager was born in February 1923 in Myra, W. V. In September 1941, he enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps. He was soon accepted for pilot training under the flying sergeant program and received his pilot wings and appointment as a flight officer in March 1943 at Luke Field, Ariz.

His first assignment was as a P-39 pilot with the 363rd Fighter Squadron, Tonopah, Nev. He went to England in November 1943 and flew P-51s in combat against the Germans, shooting down one ME-109 and an HE-111K before being shot down on his eighth combat mission over German-occupied France on March 5, 1944. He evaded capture by the enemy when elements of the French underground helped him to reach the safety of the Spanish border. That summer, he was released to the British at Gibraltar and returned to England. He returned to his squadron and flew 56 more combat missions, shooting down 11 more enemy aircraft.
Returning to stateside, Yeager participated in various test projects, including the P-80 Shooting Star and P-84 Thunderjet. He also evaluated all the German and Japanese fighter aircraft brought back to the United States after the war. This assignment led to his selection as pilot of the nation's first research rocket aircraft, the Bell X-1, at Muroc Dry Air Field (now Edwards Air Force Base, Calif.). After breaking the sound barrier in 1947, Yeager flew the X-1 more than 40 times in the next two years, exceeding 1,000 mph and 70,000 feet. He was the first American to make a ground takeoff in a rocket-powered aircraft. In December 1953 he flew the Bell X-1A 1,650 mph, becoming the first man to fly two and one-half times the speed of sound.

After a succession of command jobs, Yeager became commandant of the Aerospace Research Pilot School (now the U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School), where all military astronauts were trained. On Dec. 10, 1963, he narrowly escaped death while testing an NF-104 rocket-augmented aerospace trainer. His aircraft went out of control at 108,700 feet (nearly 21 miles up) and crashed. He parachuted to safety at 8,500 feet after battling to gain control of the powerless aircraft. He thus became the first pilot to make an emergency ejection in the full pressure suit needed for high altitude flights. Yeager has flown more than 200 types of military aircraft and has more than 14,000 hours, with more than 13,000 of them in fighter aircraft.

Yeager retired from active duty in the U. S. Air Force in March 1975, after serving as the United States defense representative to Pakistan and director of the Air Force Inspection and Safety Center, Norton Air Force Base, Calif.