by Charles Simmins

Created on: May 06, 2009

A hero is a person who, despite their own fears, did the right thing in an emergency. There are no manuals about how to be a hero in an emergency situation. There are only the examples of those we recognize to be heroes.

Many of us have vivid memories of the events of September 11, 2001. The word "hero" has been used with respect to many people on that day. Rick Rescorla ensured that 2,600 of his fellow employees did not die when the World Trade Center towers collapsed.

Rescorla was vice president of security for Morgan Stanley, Dean Witter, who had over three thousand employees in offices in the South Tower. As the towers shook from the airplane crashes, Rescorla organized the evacuation of his fellow employees. He and his officers were seen roaming the stairways, encouraging the people to evacuate in a calm and orderly manner. He was heard to sing at times.

He was seen throughout dozens of floors, looking for stragglers and moving people down the stairs. As the South Tower fell, Rescorla had succeeded. He and two of his security officers did not survive, but over 2,600 Morgan Stanley employees did. That is how to be a hero.

Leigh Ann Hester was a 23 year old shoe store employee when her Kentucky National Guard unit was sent to Iraq in 2005. Her unit was military police, not infantry or tankers. One day, a few hours, though, and Hester and her fellow Guardsmen would earn a place in Army history.

Her unit was shadowing a convoy of trucks when it was ambushed. The unit responded and came under fire from an entrenched and numerically superior enemy. It was taking fire and some of the soldiers were wounded.

Hester followed her squad leader as he moved to the attack. In close quarters fighting in the trenches, they stopped the ambush. Hester fought hard in support of the squad leader, racing back more than once to grab additional ammunition from the vehicles.

When the dust cleared, the unit had killed 27 enemy troops with no deaths of their own. The unit, callsign "Raven 42", had carried the field. The Army has recognized the valor of all of the members of Raven 42, including awarding the squad leader the distinguished Service Cross. Hester, for her heroic actions on that day, was awarded the Silver Star, the first woman to win a Silver Star since World War Two and the first to win one for combat.

Emil Joseph Kapaun was a Priest of the Roman Catholic Church when he joined the U.S. Army. In November 1950, he found himself with units opposing the massive Chinese entry into the war. The troops were being pounded by the enemy and there was a general fighting withdrawl throughout Korea. His battalion suffered massive losses and it was impossible to evacuate the wounded. Father Kapaun volunteered to remain behind to aid the wounded as the remaining soldiers attempted a breakout.

The position was overrun, and Father Kapaun was among the prisoners. Conditions in Communist prisoner of war camps were horrific and Kapaun risked his life on more than one occasion to steal food from surrounding farm fields, and to wash bandages in the fresh water of a nearby river. On Easter Sunday 1951 he said Mass, using bits of wood for a cross and barbed wire for a Rosary. Within six weeks he would be dead.

The United States Army has recognized his heroism by awarding him our nation's second highest honor for valor in combat, the Distinguished Service Cross.

These three examples illustrate heroism. In order to know how to be a hero in an emergency situation, learn from those who are heroes. Self sacrifice, pushing through the fear of death and caring for your fellow man are qualities many heroes share.

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