Heroism Definition Essay

In the Vietnam War, Specialist Fourth Class John Baca not only led his team to a firing position, but also risked his life to save his team. Baca was behind his team when a grenade was thrown into the air. When it landed, he capped the fragmentation grenade with his helmet and jumped on top of it, completely disregarding his own safety. Also in the Vietnam War, Specialist Fifth Class Clarence Sasser crawled through a field of explosions and smoke to save his men. Specialist Sasser assisted one soldier to safety and was shot in the shoulder by pieces of an exploding rocket. Even after sustaining painful injuries, Specialist Sasser drug himself through the bloody battlefield to continue saving any wounded soldier he could. Both Specialist Fourth Class Baca and Specialist Fifth Class Sasser were presented with the Medal of Honor posthumously. In addition to these Medal of Honor recipient’s, the Medal of Honor has been awarded over 3,400 times by the President of the

A perfect example that would correlate directly with this notion of heroicness would be Phillip Bullard, a 13-year-old boy, living in the town of Biloxi. Bullard, was much younger then Zeitoun, but possessed the same courageousness and caring as him, when acting at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Now, just like Zeitoun's circumstances, Bullard also had certain obstacles to make matters even tougher for him. First off, his mother, grandmother, and his brother couldn't swim, so naturally Bullard knew that he needed to take quick action in order to help save them. On top of that, the last of his family members were a young infant, who would surely not be able to be directed to safety on its own. Now, after taking a quick moment to scout out the seemingly impossible odds of this situation, Bullard instilled sheer confidence that was unlike anything he'd even imagined he had the potential to unleash, and that was "pure heroism unlike anything you'd see in a 13 year old boy his age"(Carnes 74). This confidence that Bullard had instilled in him, was of the same heroicness and resilience that Zeitoun had shown when he was trying that save the old woman from drowning. Bullard didn’t show any sign of giving up, regardless of how the odds were stacked against him. Instead, he rose up to the challenge, and used his intelligence in order to figure out the

In April 1900, Anthony J. Carson’s company deployed to Catubig, Samar, in the Philippine Islands, a vastly superior force of insurgents attacked his company. Corporal Carson’s detachment became separated from the rest of the company. Under Carson’s leadership they prepared a defensive position and waited for help to arrive. For more then two days, Corporal Carson demonstrated sound judgement and confidence as he directed his men’s fire during repeated attacks by well-armed enemy forces. For this and his exceptional leadership he was awarded the Medal of Honor.

For example, In the article “Love Triumphs: 6-Year-old Becomes a Hero to Band of Toddlers, Rescuers”, Deamonte Love is a six year old kid that saved five kids lives. “....surrounded by five toddlers who followed him around as if he were their leader.”(19) These five kids thought that Deamonte Love was a hero, and those kids were right. Deamonte love is definitely a hero. Also, heroism is having courage. For example, In the story “An Everyday Hero”Ana fights cancer. “...she fights this lethal disease every moment of every day, and she does it with a smile.” This is the second time Ana had cancer, and now she has a lot of courage that she can fight it again.Even though Ana is going to struggle she is going to be brave and have courage, and she is a hero for

Now Sergeant of a platoon, Damon had plenty of responsibilities in which he proved competent, allowing his subordinates to trust and respect him in battle. He lead his platoon’s attacks decisively and confidently, and he saved lives despite a great remaining death toll that included some of his higher. This earned him much more respect than before and with much oblige, a Major of the battalion informally promoted him on the battlefield and put in a good word for him to get the Medal of Honor which he did ultimately receive (Myrer, 133).

Heroism is when ´´Someone is dedicated to the part in saving or helping others´´. Even though a hero can be anybody, they need to see the little things before the big things. As if for example they can start by saving a cat from a tree to saving a person from a burning building. Start small then up yourself up. As you see, a hero takes time to be the next big thing, start small then help yourself up.

Roosevelt once described his service in the Spanish-American War as “the great day of my life” (www.nps.com). Roosevelt’s incredible leadership ability was first put to the test and demonstrated during the Battle of Las Guasimas as he braved a hail of enemy fire from horseback and led his men to a flanking position that broke the back of the Spanish forces and sent them into retreat. Following this action, Col. Wood was promoted to General, and Roosevelt was promoted to Colonel, giving him command of the 1st Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. Las Guasimas was a defining moment in Roosevelt’s life; however the greatest of these moments was no doubt at the Battle of San Juan Heights. Pinned down by heavy enemy fire, Roosevelt mounted his horse and cried “Are you afraid to stand up, when I am on horseback,” (www.artofmanliness.com) as he charged headlong into the fire and up Kettle Hill. After taking the first hill, Roosevelt saw that the American effort on the adjacent San Juan Hill was faltering, and he once again rallied his men for one final assault on the Spanish position. The following description of Roosevelt’s action is from his Medal of Honor citation, which was awarded posthumously in 2001.

where he was placed at the top of the order of merit list for a battalion executive officer

“Most of what they do goes unheralded, unappreciated. And that, ironically, is heroism: not to be recognized.” If someone can put what they have going on aside for you they are characterized as a hero. Regardless of who you are or what your known for doing everyone can be a hero! Heroism is when someone cares for others, someone who sacrifices something for someone else, and last but not least stays true to their beliefs.

In modern society, people often relate the word heroism to an individual who has saved hundreds of lives or accomplished some other similarly daunting feat. The general public perceives a hero as someone who is undeniably noble and brave, but that is not necessarily the case. We have adopted such a narrow-minded mentality of what exactly makes a hero that it is difficult to discern whether or not actions in everyday life are truly for the greater good. We have limited our use of the title of hero to the few and mighty, and by doing so, we have excluded those who make some of the most challenging decisions from receiving any recognition. With such unnecessary restrictions, we have started to teach children that some people are not strong enough and that they shouldn’t even bother to try to make a difference in their

Heroism is a term that many people know of, many people understand, and many people recognize as nothing more than meaning “great bravery” or someone showing what is referred to as “heroic conduct” in the face of danger. Now, while many people understand the definition of heroism simply for what it is, most people do not understand the true meaning of heroism, which goes above and beyond a simple definition and into the very nature of humanity itself. The true definition of heroism is something impossible to describe via words, and only possible to describe via action; the only true examples of the actual meaning of the word coming from the brave people willing to risk themselves for the protection of others or to do something that others would

It is not the urge to surpass all others at whatever cost, but the urge to serve others at whatever cost.” (Thinkexist.com) The purist heroism never shows off, but does what is necessary whatever the price. Pure heroism also almost always conducts the best action to make the improve society. From all of this, one can conclude that heroes will always perform the task for the well being of society.

Many Marines displayed courage in the Battle of Belleau Wood; however, First Sergeant Dan Daly became a marine corps legend by leading from the front while demonstrating one of the most staggering displays of Physical

     Another communal characteristic of heroes and those who follow them is the fact that everyone lives by a code of honor. Heroes live by a higher code of honor than those who follow them. For heroes, their actions must either all be in accordance with the rules set by their master, or greatly excel the expectations that are held for others. Going out of their way at every possible instance is considered mandatory. The main point of all of this is not that they actually do all these things, but that they proudly enjoy performing the tasks given to them. Everyday people are the same, just less intense. Everyone has a code of honor. Some have a higher level than others. One person may live by a code of honor consisting of no regulations at all. Another could live by the regulations that they can’t go against the bible, can’t break the law, and occasionally have to try to be nice to people. In another case, a person could see the minimum code of conduct in their life being to live their life in the footsteps of God, obey all laws, and do every possible act of humanity and good will that they can. The point is that no matter who the subject is, be it hero or zero, everyone has a code of conduct that they chose to live by

of the most heroic things ever. America could never pay veterans enough for being so