Category
Heroes
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Australia, Heroes
Australians Are Awesome, Round 3
An Australian cameraman was in Haiti covering the devastating earthquake there when he missed getting footage of an 18-month-old girl being rescued. Rather stupid, wouldn’t you say, since that’s what he was there for?
Nope. He didn’t get the footage because he was the one doing the rescuing.
This, along with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta manning a makeshift hospital after the Belgian medical team left/was ordered out (accounts differ) is going to change a few minds about the media. And frankly, I’m surprised this kind of thing doesn’t happen more often. They’re people too, and many have clearly been moved by the tragic events.
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Heroes, News
Norman Borlaug Dies at 95
We’ve seen a lot of celebrities pass away this year, from Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett to Ted Kennedy and Patrick Swayze. Now the man who saved more lives than any person who ever lived has died, and the news has made barely a ripple.
As Gregg Easterbrook recounts, Norman Borlaug moved to rural Mexico in 1943 in order to concentrate on increasing crop yields developing countries. I won’t recount the whole article, but suffice to say that Borlaug was spectacularly successful, never more than in the 1960s when he brought his seeds and his techniques to India and Pakistan. These countries were prone to frequent famines. A few years after Borlaug began working there, they were both self-sufficient.
As I wrote a few years ago, Borlaug was one of those driven men who was on a quest to make the world a better place, and simply would not take no for an answer. Too bad that so many would rather have Jacko for a role model.
(Here’s an earlier article on Borlaug by Easterbrook.)
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Dave White, Heroes, War
9/11, Eight Years On
I don’t have much to add to what I’ve said in past years, except to remember those who ran into burning buildings to save who they could – and stand ready to do it again. And I want to encourage you to read the best story I have ever seen about 9/11, “Closure” by Dave White.
Dave has written more technically competent stories since then, and both his novels have been nominated for awards, but I’m not sure he’ll ever write another story as moving as that one.
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Heroes
Frankie Housley
With the successful splashdown of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River, it’s worth remembering the story of Frankie Housley. Ms. Housley was only 24 years old and a flight attendant with National Air Lines when one afternoon in 1951 she was called upon to be a hero.
She was aboard a DC-4 when it skidded off an icy runway in Philadelphie, ending up aflame in a ditch. Frankie kept her calm and calmed those around her, escorting the passengers to the emergency door and seeing the safely to the ground. The last passengers to escape were Brenda Joyce and her two year old daughter. Joyce’s baby was still on board, and Housley went back into the smoke and flames to look for her.
And found her. When they pulled Housley’s body from the wreckage she held the infant cradled in her arms.
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Australia, Heroes
Australian Rules
And I ain’t talking about football. Let’s read a bit from this guy’s Victoria Cross citation:
During the conduct of this vehicle manoeuvre to extract the convoy from the engagement area, a severely wounded coalition force interpreter was inadvertently left behind.
Of his own volition and displaying complete disregard for his own safety, Trooper Donaldson moved alone, on foot, across approximately 80 metres of exposed ground to recover the wounded interpreter.
His movement, once identified by the enemy, drew intense and accurate machine gun fire from entrenched positions.
Upon reaching the wounded coalition force interpreter, Trooper Donaldson picked him up and carried him back to the relative safety of the vehicles then provided immediate first aid before returning to the fight.
So. Imagine running almost the length of a football field, picking up a full grown man, and carrying him back the same distance. Now imagine angry Afghans shooting machine guns at you the whole way.
As part of winning the VC, all members of the Australian armed forces will now salute Trooper Donaldson, up to and including the highest ranking officer. The rest of us? We can do nought but buy him a beer.
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