What Makes a Hero?

The first thing that comes to mind is a person of extraordinary abilities and larger-than-life personality. But in reality, most heroes are ordinary people acting in the best interest of others, usually in disregard for their own safety. And most of them don’t even consider themselves heroes. They usually say that they are just doing what needed to be done.

This page is devoted to telling the stories of heroism, and to keeping alive the memory of those who have sacrificed to help others.

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Lt. Larry L. Taylor

Lt. Larry L. Taylor

JUNE 12, 1968 | NEAR AP GO CONG, BÌNH DƯƠNG PROVINCE, REPUBLIC OF VIETNAM A four-man long-range reconnaissance team saw through its night-vision scope that it was completely surrounded by hostile forces on a mission northeast of Saigon. Army attack helicopter pilot...

James Lewis Day

James Lewis Day

12 May, 1945 Sugar Loaf Hill, Okinawa Japanese defenders, nearly an entire regiment, have fortified their crucial position on a small hill. The hill looked unassuming, but it was honeycombed with concrete reverse slope positions holding machine gun and artillery...

Trooper Toni Schuck: A Heroic Act of Bravery to Protect Lives

Trooper Toni Schuck: A Heroic Act of Bravery to Protect Lives

March 6, 2022 On a sunny morning in Florida, thousands of Armed Forces Skyway 10K Marathon runners were gathered at the finish line when an unforeseen threat emerged. A reckless driver, impaired by alcohol, crashed through barriers and traffic cones at over 100 mph...

Marcella Hayes Ng

Marcella Hayes Ng

In her childhood town of Centralia, Missouri, Marcella Hayes Ng was a spirited tomboy, unafraid of climbing trees, engaging in tackle football with her cousins, and observing her grandfather's skilled work on cars. Growing up, Marcella held the belief that everyone...

Robert Emmett Fletcher Jr.

Robert Emmett Fletcher Jr.

In 1942, a few months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the U.S. government forced Japanese immigrants and Americans of Japanese descent to report to barbed-wire camps. Many lost their homes to thieves or bank foreclosures. A state agricultural inspector, Fletcher...