Hero of the Quarter is a serial article written by, for, and about the gallant American men and women, of all ages and races, who expended their health, their very comfort, that is to say, their ability to live without pain, physical pain, and just as often mental pain, in the honoring of our country in military service in the wars and battles of the last century.

Overshadowed, in the public’s mind, if not in honor and glory, by those who paid the ultimate price, these neglected heroes still enshrine the very greatest of virtues which relate directly to the values they took to heart in their exceptional American upbringing. A different day in The United States, indeed, these hardy souls complained not about the lack of creature comforts in an era, similar to ours, swept by dramatic events both at home and abroad. Most were simply glad to have a job, and a roof over their heads as events far beyond their control swirled around them and, in many cases, carried them off.

Our job is to chronicle these men and women, to tell a little bit of their story, to empathize, to inform my reader that, damn, honor among men is not dead in America! Our passion is not to inflame, but to inform, to make people aware. It is not the willful ignorance of the American population that is the issue; rather, there has been a wholesale attempt to denigrate the great values of honor, courage, civility, chivalry, if you will, that our forebearers displayed in such abundance.

The political enemies of our great tradition of individual freedom, small and unintrusive government and minimal regulation and taxation, i.e., American Democrats and many Republicans - abet this shameful attempt to distort our history, and minimize the extraordinary contributions of the ordinary men who fought her wars. This attempt is expressed by anti-Americanism in the public schools, the constant racial pandering and demands for greater portions of the apportioned pie, by the cultural relativism that dismisses the fundamental role of liberty in economic prosperity, it is not vice versa. The heroes I speak of have no comprehension of how such a vulgar, pandering, offensive culture such as ours has devolved . Our job is to chronicle how to be more like these men, how to learn from them, how to emulate them in the dark days ahead for our glorious republic. And how better than through the miracle of the internet, which enables me to maximize my potential by reaching a far larger audience than possible heretofore.

The popular trend in America today is to minimize the importance of the contribution of veteran heroes of our wars; people whose pains, caused by the extreme combat conditions they faced, have continued from the event onward. While not always considered debilitating, these discomforts have forced our veteran heroes to adjust their lives, often in significant ways. These adjustments go without compensation by our government, it goes without saying, although most of our disabled veteran heroes would probably just as soon go without the federal government bankrupting them with their help.

Still, if any group deserves the largesse of the federal treasury, it is they. And of course, as it is, they are the neglected ones. Shame, America! Behold your popular heroes! Is there any wonder our priorities have become so skewed? People today feted and exalted in society would have been seen, in the recent past, as the lowest of the low. And so they are. And so no names must be mentioned. As someone once said, ‘if you understand, no explanation is necessary, if you don’t understand, no explanation is possible.’

END of PART I