This is pretty amazing. Time magazine has named "The American Soldier" as its "Person of the Year". The TNT carries an Associated Press article describing the honor.
Michael Weisskopf, the journalist embedded with the unit profiled in Time, recently lost his hand when he threw a grenade out of the Humvee he was traveling in. He likely saved the lives of others in the vehicle, including soldiers. In an unique gesture of appreciation, the U.S. Army allowed Weisskopf to be treated at Walter Reed hospital even though he is a civilian.
His photographer, James Nachtwey, was also injured. Marcel was kind enough to forward a link to his online photo gallery if you'd like to see his work.
I found another blog site that ran a thread on the story of Michael Weisskopf's heroics. Many of the commentors questioned whether the act of picking up and disposing a live hand grenade, saving yourself and several compatriots, was even heroic, but more an act of self preservation.
That made me angry enough to correct this mis-thinking. Given the split seconds in which to make the right decision, a heroic person acts instinctively. He isn't always successful, unfortunately, but he tried. Mr. Weisskopf was almost totally successful - losing his right hand by just a split second. A less than heroic person might dive for cover, even using another person's body as a shield, or freeze in inaction, helping no one.
In the same situation, a military person would be deemed heroic by any definition, and given a citation as high as the Silver Star, or it's other services' equivalent.
We usually picture the war journalist and his photographer partner as too intrusive and reckless in their pursuit of "the story scoop", sometimes endangering the lives of others.
Without these daring men and women in the field (for whatever reason- heroic or otherwise), we would return to the old days of printed news clips and lead stories delivered by a news reader long after the event actually occurred.
These brave and daring men and women helped provide us with a live-action view of warfare for more than 10 years, now. I join many in saluting the field news personnel for their selfless dedication to their work; often facing danger and even death in it's pursuit.
Comments For "Person Of The Year":
I found another blog site that ran a thread on the story of Michael Weisskopf's heroics. Many of the commentors questioned whether the act of picking up and disposing a live hand grenade, saving yourself and several compatriots, was even heroic, but more an act of self preservation.
That made me angry enough to correct this mis-thinking. Given the split seconds in which to make the right decision, a heroic person acts instinctively. He isn't always successful, unfortunately, but he tried. Mr. Weisskopf was almost totally successful - losing his right hand by just a split second. A less than heroic person might dive for cover, even using another person's body as a shield, or freeze in inaction, helping no one.
In the same situation, a military person would be deemed heroic by any definition, and given a citation as high as the Silver Star, or it's other services' equivalent.
We usually picture the war journalist and his photographer partner as too intrusive and reckless in their pursuit of "the story scoop", sometimes endangering the lives of others.
Without these daring men and women in the field (for whatever reason- heroic or otherwise), we would return to the old days of printed news clips and lead stories delivered by a news reader long after the event actually occurred.
These brave and daring men and women helped provide us with a live-action view of warfare for more than 10 years, now. I join many in saluting the field news personnel for their selfless dedication to their work; often facing danger and even death in it's pursuit.
Posted by: Marcel Perez | December 21, 2003 11:56 AM