Time Correspondent A Hero (Rosemary)
Michael Weisskopf, a Washington-based senior correspondent for Time magazine, was seriously wounded in Baghdad late Wednesday when a grenade exploded in the U.S. Army Humvee in which he was a passenger. James Nachtwey, a Time contributing photographer, was also in the vehicle and was injured by the blast."
"Weisskopf, 57, a former Washington Post reporter, likely saved the lives of his companions, including two U.S. soldiers, by attempting to toss the grenade from the vehicle before it exploded, said several people familiar with the incident. "
Reports say that his right hand was blown off. He is in stable condition.
Wow. I want to wish him well and hope he gets better soon. Wow.
That is one brave dude.
(Via Instapundit)
There's an American. Instinctive, selfless reaction.
Sometimes I despair that this type of person has become extinct. Like when you see a live shooting on television and none of the thirty witnesses reacts to the shootings until the perp leaves the scene.
I'm glad to see they're still around, although losing a hand is a harsh penalty.
Brave Americans like Meyer Weisskopf have been around since the beginning, and I'm sure they always shall be on hand, when need arises.
There was a young black American soldier whose story I remember. Milton Olive, born in Mississippi but raised in my part-time home town, Chicago. He was a 19-year-old with the 173rd Airborne Brigade in Viet Nam in October 1965, when he planted himself squarely on a live VC grenade in Viet Nam, absorbed the blast, and saved the life of a number of men in his unit, sacrificing his own while doing so. Congressional Medal of Honor and well-deserved.
If our culture had a Valhalla as did the Norse, men like Weisskopf, Olive and so many thousands of other American heroes would surely and justifiably fill it. In the end, the stories of war belong mostly with the men -- and sometimes the women -- who fight them. And includes brave civilians like Weisskopf who come through for everyone around them at that moment of time when their action makes a big difference.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
The cynics say that Milton Olive was suicidally depressed at being in Nam, or that he preferred death to maiming. I heard this several times after Chicago named a lakefront park in his honor. Those who lack courage have a need to demean it.
I actually received an email this morning from a family member who suggested that the details of the Weisskopf report would have been easy to falsify.