Hero

  • Ralph G. Neppel-WWII Hero

    We live in an era where social media ‘influencers’ or celebrities, who make a token gesture for the latest political hype , are seen as heroes. I find it very hard to comprehend this misguided notion. None of these people have ever done a heroic deed. I cam across the picture above on an article

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  • The Hero Gino Bartali

    Gino Bartali won the Giro d’Italia 3 times, in 1936,1937 and 1946. He also won de Tour de France twice, the first time in 1938 and again in 1948. This alone would make him a sporting hero. Especially his 2nd Giro d’Italia win, when his younger brother, Giulio, died in a racing accident on 14

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  • (originally posted March 22, 2020) I did a blog on Marcel Marceau about two years ago. Today, he would have been 100 years old. Therefore, I thought it appropriate to do another tribute to this Silent Hero. He survived the Nazi occupation and saved many children during World War II. He was regarded for his

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  • Roddie Edmonds and many of his fellow US Army mates were captured by Nazi forces on 19 December 1944 during the Battle of the Bulge. Some of them were sent to Stalag IXB. Edmonds was the senior noncommissioned officer (Master Sergeant) and was made responsible for the camp’s 1,275 American POWs. The men of the

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  • Left without a Father

    The US armed service often get bad press and maybe sometimes that’s warranted. but what is often forgotten nowadays and especially in Europe, we owe these brave men and women a great deal. As a Dutch man I am so aware of the liberty that was bestowed upon me by the sacrifice of so many

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  • Richard Ira Bong- WWII Hero

    I could do a very lengthy blog about Richard Ira Bong but I decided to stay with the facts that really matter. For everything else I urge you to look up his name, so much has already written about him. He is credited with shooting down 40 enemy aircraft in aerial combat. The citation on

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  • Diet Eman- WWII Hero.

    Only the good die young, all the evil seem to live forever is a line from an Iron Maiden song, and there have been times where I thought this to be true, because I saw so many evil people living a long and prosperous lives. But thankfully ever now and then that theory is proven

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  • I had not heard of Tina Strobos before although I have read so much about WWII and the Holocaust, but for some reason her name escaped me. She was born Tineke Buchter. She was a  was a Dutch physician and psychiatrist from Amsterdam and during WWII she was involved in the Dutch resistance.Together with her

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  • Desperation and Survival

    I have often wondered how the Sonderkommandos coped with their  work. Sonderkommandos were  forced labour units made up of  Nazi death camp prisoners. usually Jews.They were forced to help with the disposal of gas chamber victims among other duties. Sometimes even removing family members. It is not like they had a choice, it was either work

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  • The Fighting Girlfriend

    Your husband goes off to war and gets killed in battle. What do you do? Well like any other wife you would sell all your belongings and with the money earned from that sale, you go an acquire a tank, to take revenge. It sounds like a great plot for a revenge movie directed by

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