The Definition Of “Hero”!
Our society uses the word “hero” as some sort of throw away description used to feign patriotism….
Then there are true heroes…..
Saving a life may be a common bucket-list entry, but it’s one that’s rarely checked off. James McCloughan could’ve done so 10 times over two days in 1969. Ignoring his lieutenant’s orders to evacuate Nui Yon Hill in Vietnam after shrapnel cut into his head and back and a bullet pierced his arm, the 23-year-old Army medic ran through “hell on earth” and “gave it his all and then … just kept giving,” President Trump said Monday, bestowing McCloughan with the Medal of Honor almost 50 years after that intense battle. Five of the 10 men McCloughan pulled to safety while surrounded by 2,000 enemies looked on as the 71-year-old took his “place among legends,” Trump said in his first time awarding the medal, per the New York Times.
Trump told how McCloughan had run into an open field to retrieve a wounded soldier as bullets rained. Over the next 48 hours, he went without food, water, or sleep as he saved nine more men and helped load medevac helicopters. He finally collapsed from dehydration as one of 32 men left on the ground. After returning from Vietnam in 1970, the Michigan native received two Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars, per Heavy.com. A meeting with Rep. Fred Upton years later, however, led to the recommendation that he also receive the nation’s highest military honor, bestowed with special permission by Congress. “Jim’s dad taught him a simple but powerful lesson: Never do anything halfway,” Trump said. “Jim took that lesson very much to heart.”
And that is a true HERO! Anything else is a poser!
Congrats…..no one deserves it more.
Time to be off like a dirty shirt…..I shall return with a fresh bag of stuff….chuq
So late after the fact, but so worthy!! Not only that, but what he faced when he came home!! Are you old enough to remember?
Served 2 and half years in Vietnam….1967-1970…first in Mekong Delta and then Central Highlands….he truly deserves all we can give him….chuq
thanx for following GSFP…I appreciate your help…chuq
No problem. You can get me thinking [ we don’t always agree ] but we never argue!!
I truly would like your input if you feel like sharing….chuq
I will when I can. I follow quite a few blogs – I read fast, but I am perpetually running out of time – so I’ll do my best. Have to tell you though, I wish the media and Congress would get off the old Russia-scare bit and try to get something productive accomplished!!
Not to worry there will only be one or two posts a week for now…..but I understand….I get up to my eyes in reading myself…..chuq
Absolutely, positively the word “hero” is very loosely assigned in our culture. Maybe I will make a post on this as I do have strong views on this. BUT.. that being said.. and I was waiting for your post on this, chuq.. 🙂
..it was a touching ceremony and very welcome to see a living GI get the Medal for a change. No question him being an authentic hero. Not sure why it took so damn long for him to get it though. My personal hope is that he made it through life not haunted by those past images of war. Given his accomplishments and family life it seems he managed to find a way to have balance.
At first I was drawn by my very anti-Trump feelings to feel sorry for the guy in having someone so un-presidential and having NO military experience, and representing so much domestic controversy and non-respect, presenting him with our highest medal. But while watching the body language and movements it seems he might be a Trump supporter. If that is the case, then I am happy he received his medal from a person he respects, which makes the event all the more important to him… as it should. I’ll leave it at that.
SP5 James McCloughan is a true hero.
Most award winners these days are given their awards by those that never served….but you are right so be it…he deserved that award and more….chuq
I guess my point was more along the lines that in my opinion the guy giving the award is not even fit to do that much because of who he is.. not because his lack of military service.
I know…I too thought a bit much but the guy needed to get his award….chuq
I have never served in the forces, but I understand enough to know that anyone like this was a real hero, whatever the ’cause’. It is never about anything but your comrades, when it comes down to it.
Best wishes, Pete.
True…and he said in an interview that he could not live with himself if he went to a hospital while those men died…that he had rather died on the hill than leave those wounded behind….now that is a true hero….chuq
Another note….I like Trotsky a lot and read this the other day though you might like it also…
https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2014/02/11/serv-f11.html
Have a good day….chuq
I was never a Trotskyist back in the day. But I will happily read the article.
Trotsky is my fave other than Lenin…very sharp and intelligent….chuq
Hmm…Intelligence was never the criterion. Action was what was required.
True as always…..but someone has to have the ideas and then translate it to the workers for action….
Looking back over those historical events, I have to conclude that they thought Trotsky might be a little too clever. Never a good idea, to outsmart the leader! 🙂
Yep he took Stalin as a thug and fool and it killed him….chuq
I agree. Stalin might have been a Georgian thug, but he proved to be no fool in the end. Perhaps he wasn’t credited with the street smarts he obviously had?
Becoming Sec of the party was the best job for him and it proved to be deadly to all the others….chuq
This is a good book. It tries to vilify him, but it ended up making me like him even more than before! 🙂
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/jul/20/biography.features
Cool! I can add that one to my book order for September….thanx….chuq
Thanks for a great ‘chat’. I don’t know anyone else who talks about this stuff these days. Gives me a ride down memory lane!
You are welcome and I enjoy it as well….any time would be nice….chuq
There were some very awkward unanswered questions there, chuq. Mr T cleared off to Mexico, had a love affair with Frida Kahlo , and eventually got the ice pick. Back in the old days, I was a hard-liner, nicknamed ‘Stalin’ in my union years. I held no brief for the ‘Liberals’ in the party. That’s why I am no longer a member, obviously. My motto used to be that you had to kill everyone who didn’t agree with you, because you would never change their minds. Have I mellowed? Not much, to be frank. Just got older.
Best wishes, Pete.
His writings are fascinating…….as a revolutionary socialist I too took that line especially here in the ignorance of the Americas…..but as you say…I have gotten older now…LOL chuq
He wrote well, and perhaps became disillusioned with the purges and excesses of ‘success’ in the revolution. But I thought he might have been smart enough to know when not to speak…
He got careless and arrogant….
Pete, my friend… somehow when you mention the word “comrades” I get a different meaning. 🙂
I’m being silly. I know what you mean.
I mean it in the ‘Red’ sense, Doug. Always have my friend. Doesn’t mean we can’t be friends though. I have mellowed in old age. (NOT!) 🙂
Hahaha.. Well, the Cold War is over.. so you having those “tendencies” is not going to make me want to build a fallout shelter anytime soon. BUT.. a zombie-proof bunker fully equipped to kill my fellow humans after the apocalypse.. well, that’s another story!
Maybe I might get over to the gulf coast one of these days? We could talk about these halcyon days over a mint julep, or six. (I have never had one, only seen them in the films…) 🙂
Down here they drink a lot of rum…..but whatever floats the boat right? lol chuq
You might like this one I found in my Reader……
https://wordpress.com/read/feeds/63914326/posts/1545684361
That’s an interesting read, chuq. We have a department store chain the the UK that operates a similar system to the company in Spain.
https://www.johnlewispartnership.co.uk/work/employee-ownership.html
Regards, Pete.
Thanx for the link…..Bob’s red mill…a baking and organic grain company is employee owned….the original owner left it to them in the will…..chuq
In land warfare, it’s The Grunts that are the heroes! Many are never acknowledged and, in this case, luckily the recipient was recognized–what, 48 years later–while he’s still alive. I have two questions:
1. Why do they make these guys, who’ve been out of the service for decades, charade around in uniform?
2. I have seen a number of these Awards on TV; but, why did Trumpie have to drag it on, and on, to the point that one might forget what the whole ceremony was about? Was the Trumpet trying o place himself in the middle of it?
I think the uniform is a choice…not sure….Trump will always be the center of everything he does and says….chuq
No, I’ve read that that is the rule! And, I’ve never seen anyone in civvies. Perhaps the option is to have it mailed to you, which I believe would be preferable to confronting The Orange Turd.