My Grandmother
for so many reasons - for her strength, for facing the trials of her life with smiling grace and humor
for always being true to her beliefs and standards by just living them
I have just volunteered to deliver an assembly to approximately 440, 12-13 years old and the theme is...
HEROES
It's only got to be about 10-15 minutes long and can take any form I want. So as I sit here thinking about what I might do, two questions come into my mind:
What makes a hero?
Who are your heroes, and why?
Would be really interested to know what you think!
My Grandmother
for so many reasons - for her strength, for facing the trials of her life with smiling grace and humor
for always being true to her beliefs and standards by just living them
Read some of the Victoria Cross winners stories (this one is interesting as it Jermey Clarkson farther-in-law and is regard as one of the best VC stories), personnally I think the word heroes is to easily given out now a days.
There are far, far too many heros to count. Just a few:
My father was joined the Irish Guards just before the war, and was involved in action from the disaster of the Norway campaign, through North Africa to Anzio. Later he served in Palestine. He would not talk about the war to me at all. I knew that he was twice mentoned in despatches. For years I thought all that meant was that he had worked hard building things, he was a pioneer seargeant when I grew up. Only after his death did I find out that this is very much a line of fire award, just short of a medal.
In North Africa he was on hill 212, taken from the Herman Goering regiment and held against severe counter attacks. The Irish Guards there took 90% casualties. He was one. He suffered a broken bone in his leg. He escaped from the hospital when he heard they were shipping out for the Italian campaign and rejoined his regiment. (The regiments motto is "Quis seperabis" Who will seperate us.) Thus it was that he had to confess and get the plaster removed on his way to Anzio. There he was concussed by a sniper bullet that went through his hat. I put a pencil through the bullet hole and could not get it on my head.
On hill 212 a medical orderly crossed enemy lines and arduously pushed a very heavy jerry can of water up the steep slopes of the Bou, desperately hoping not to be seen. (People wearing the red cross are not meant to ferry supplies, he was a legitimate, and easy, target) An reconnisance armoured car passed below him. After climbing for two hours in the desert heat he got within two yards of the top when the can was hit by a snipers bullet. It was hit by two more bullets, just so that he would know that he not been the target, and went slithering down the slope as he bolted over the top.
The Irish guards got mortar bombs up the steep hill, but not mortars. Some were were taking the propulsion cartidge out of them, arming then by hitting them very hard on the ground, (mortar bombs are designed to explode on impact when the other way up). They then threw the armed bombs like grenades.
I have to include the soldiers of the Herman Goering regiment, charging up hill at a desperately defended position. They were part of the rear guard that was holding up the advance so that the rest of the defeated German army could be evacuated.
And last, but by no mens least we have John Keneally, only we don't. He was
the youngest person ever to be awarded the VC for attacking a company of Panzer Grenadiers on his own. As the first attack was forming he broke its momentum by charging down the hill firing his Bren Gun from the hip. Somehow he survived.
The attack reformed, and, this time accompanied by another, again charged down the hill. This time he was wounded. For these actions he won the VC.
Later he confessed that he was not, in fact, John Kenneally at all, but Leslie Jackson, the illegitimate son of Neville Blond and Gertrude Robinson (a 'high-class whore'). He had joined the Royal Artillery, and, had a "variable" military career there. He spent some time in an cell, guarded by Irish Guards, who impressed him. He deserted and took on a fake ID from stolen papers, but changed his mnd and joined the Irish Guards.
Its not how you start, but where you finish.
http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/bbkennea.htm
Franck !
For funding (totally on his own for many years) all the hard and often thankless time he has put into this forum
--ooOoo--
Age is a question of mind over matter, if you don't mind, it doesn't matter
Leroy (Satchel) Paige (1906-1982)
Mickey Mouse's girlfriend, Minnie, made her film debut, along with Mickey, in "Steamboat Willie" on November 18, 1928.
That date is recognized as her official birthday.
There's something very symbolic of the modern era in the actions of the student who stood in front of the tanks during the Tiananmen Square incident in China. That's the sort of heroism that I find admirable.
A single individual vs. the state
Learning vs. repression
Human vs. machine
Non-violence vs. brutal indifference
Self-expression vs. tyranny
...it works on so many levels.
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
Bookmarks