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The White House announced Friday that a Pennsylvania soldier who jumped on top of a grenade in Iraq and saved the lives of his comrades will posthumously receive the Medal of Honor. The nation's highest military honor will be given to 19-year-old Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis of Knox, Pa., on June 2. McGinnis "distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism," said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto. McGinnis was perched in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee when a grenade sailed past him and into the truck where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning to the others, then jumped...

Dramatic rescue from creek saves four children By Jeff Raasch and Erika Binegar and Erika Binegar jeff.raasch@gazettecommunications.com erika.binegar@gazettecommunications.com ANAMOSA — Along the shore of Buffalo Creek, Phillip Horak heard the screams of 2-year-old Tatum McGloghlin inside his car, upside down and almost fully under water. Just 4 miles from home on a winding gravel road, Horak had spotted a raccoon or a dog, jerked the wheel and was soon filled with regret. The two-door Honda, carrying his girlfriend, Holly Winders, and four toddlers spun off Buffalo Road and down an embankment. It flipped end-over-end, landing on its top in 5-foot-deep...

Charlton Heston died this week at the age of 84. He had two careers, and both were “larger than life.” His family used that phrase in the statement they issued about his death. They spoke the simple truth. With his furrowed brow, his chiseled chin, his stentorian voice, he was cast in heroic roles from early in his career. But he took on similar roles in life, as the head of the National Rifle Association for five years, but also as a campaigner for issues that mattered to him, such as color-blind rather than color-driven civil rights. He was a...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan, March 10, 2008 – Army Sgt. 1st Class Michael Loetz recently received a Bronze Star Medal for Valor for saving the life of an Afghan truck driver in 2007. Army Sgt 1st Class Michael Loetz, of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, is awarded a Bronze Star Medal for Valor for rescuing an Afghan truck driver during an ambush in eastern Afghanistan. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Eric Hendrix, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. The story behind the rescue is both harrowing and heartwarming. The Distribution Platoon of Company F, 2nd...

Frank Woodruff Buckles was just 15 years old when he joined the U.S. Army. Soon, he was deployed to war and headed overseas on the Carpathia -- the same ship used in the rescue mission of the Titanic. He drove ambulances in Britain and France for soldiers wounded during World War I. A few decades later, Buckles was in the Philippines as a civilian, on December 7, 1941, the day Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. He was taken as a prisoner of war for 39 months in Manila, eating his meals out of a single tin cup. More than 60 years...

(Edit) James Kelley, 22, was in the Richmond Hill pizza parlor where his mother works about 3:30 p.m. when he heard screaming. "I ran outside and saw two girls screaming from the second floor" of a neighboring building, Kelley said. "All I could think was, 'I need to help.' I was just thinking, 'Save those kids.'" Unable to break through a wall of fire and smoke on the second floor, he rushed to an adjacent laundermat and grabbed a fire extinguisher. After discharging it, he ran outside for another, but by then Police Officer Joe Amato had arrived, Kelley...

Second Lt. Bryan Jackson was eight months into his first tour of duty in Iraq and out on patrol in Anbar Province in September 2006 when the Humvee he was towing behind a Bradley Fighting Vehicle got stuck in the mud.It was a mundane mishap, but it made Jackson and his crew nervous. Not only did they fear the Humvee would roll over, but they also knew the stall made them a naked target for insurgent fire. Just a month earlier, a comrade had been seriously wounded at the same spot near the town of Hit. What happened next...

A Hero Among US by: James F. Davis, November 09, 2007 The first Medal of Honor since 9/11 was recently awarded posthumously by the President to Michael Murphy. It saddens me that, of the major media, only one, Fox News, carried the ceremony live. This is the highest award for bravery in defending our country. Our people, especially our youth, need to know about the kind of person who risked his life so that the rest of us could live free. I discovered I had one such hero in my own family. After taking my uncle, Gerald F. Davis, to...

FHM model saves British tourists from sinking boat in dramatic Baywatch-style rescueBy IAN EVANS - More by this author » Last updated at 18:19pm on 7th November 2007  A British family was rescued from a sinking ship in South Africa by a real-life Baywatch babe when a teenage model turned into a Pamela Anderson-style lifesaver. Professional surfer-turned-model Roxy Louw spotted the family's sinking charter boat from her private balcony overlooking the upmarket Clifton Beach in Cape Town, South Africa. She phoned the coastguard - then donned her wetsuit and ran towards the beach. Scroll down for more...Lifesaver: Roxy Louw...

Hero cops save 12 from fire in 2 Bronx homes BY PETER KADUSHIN, TINA MOORE and ETHAN ROUEN DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERSMonday, October 29th 2007, 4:00 AM Police Officers Christopher Scott (left) and Michael Welsh from the 12th Precinct As fiery debris rained down on them, two city cops rushed through a pair of Bronx homes engulfed in flames Sunday and helped rescue 12 people, including two infants.Officers Michael Welsh and Christopher Scott kicked down doors and screamed to wake people as the blaze devoured 374 Bronx Park Ave. in West Farms. After they emerged from the inferno, they...

The ultimate tribute: Iraq-hero Hall nominated for George Cross medalBy JONATHAN POWELL - More by this author » Last updated at 22:53pm on 13th October 2007  A British security guard who died as he saved the lives of four colleagues in Iraq is to be recommended for Britain's highest civilian honour, the George Cross. Simon Hall and his companions were unarmed when they were overpowered by gunmen near the Kuwait border, bundled into a pick-up truck and taken on a terrifying journey to almost certain death. But the captives launched a daring escape attempt, with Simon heroically grabbing hold...

FORT LAUDERDALE: As the lunch rush started Monday, waiter Juan Canales stopped a carjacker from taking a woman's Honda CRV out of the parking lot where he worked. Hours later he lost his job.

Heroic Academic Research by: Malcolm A. Kline, September 06, 2007 Believe it or not, we came across some outside-the-box academic research that does not look that bad. “Temple University psychologist Frank Farley, following an intensive study of modern heroism, divided heroes into three types,” Roger Donway reports in the September issue of The New Individualist. “First are the soldiers, policemen, firemen, rescue workers—what Farley calls 911 heroes (referring to the emergency telephone number, not September 11).” “They are, in a sense, professional heroes.” Acknowledging the heroic aspect of military service sets Farley apart from most of his peers. He must...

It sounds kind of canned, but there truly is a hero in all of us. We all were designed by God to be a blessing to others – a champion to someone. Don't ever minimize yours or others' position or potential. Everyone has a place on the planet. Contributing to the culture of courage is all of our duty. As my mother has always told me, I also pass on to you: God has a plan for your life. The question is: Will we recognize our potential and offer up the power of our one unique life? I am genuinely...

MOSCOW, July 6 (RIA Novosti) - A Carnegie fund commission in the U.S. awarded a medal for heroism Friday to a Russian man who died trying to save a girl from falling into a canyon. Vitaly Tsikoza, 41, of Novosibirsk fell 140 meters (450 feet) to his death trying to save three-year-old Paulina Filippova at American Fork Canyon in Utah on September 24, 2006. The Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Hero Fund Commission meets five times annually to choose honorees. Since the fund was established in 1904, over 9,000 people have received heroism medals.

In Memoriam: Custer's Last Stand, June 25, 1876 Private William Slaper : «Each man had secreted himself behind a slain horse. » Lieutenant Charles DeRudio: “The horses were laying as if to suggest a barricade.” Lieutenant Luther Hare: “The evidence on the Custer field indicated very hard fighting.” __ Reno court of Inquiry: “In regard to the severity of the fighting on General Custer’s battlefield, did you see any evidences that there was hard fighting there, or the contrary? Lieutenant Godfrey: “I think there must have been a very hard fighting. Reno court of Inquiry: “You think there was a...

Amazingly, MSM can do something right. Meet Bert Brady - just one man that goes out of his way to thank the soldiers - ABC News Person of the Week. You may want to have a tissue handy.

ExclusiveWar crime: FBI targets fake heroes BY THOMAS ZAMBITO DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERSunday, May 6th 2007, 4:00 AM The FBI is using a new law to nab phonies like Georgia's Richard Thibodeau, who was outed as a fake marine. Federal agents are taking aim at phony war heroes who tell tall tales of battlefield valor and pin bogus medals upon their chests, the Daily News has learned.The FBI's Washington headquarters receives at least 15 tips a week about fake heroes - and most of the information comes from veterans who are furious that the scam artists are demeaning real...

A survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre has been describing how a colleague died to protect others. Although badly injured, graduate student Waleed Shalaan distracted gunman Cho Seung-Hui to save another person from his bullets. Waleed saved another student's life.The surviving student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told of Waleed's heroics through an email to his supervisor. He describes how he was left uninjured after Cho's initial round of shots. Meanwhile, Waleed had been wounded but was still alive. However, when Cho later returned to the classroom to inspect for signs of life among his victims, the surviving student struggled...

April 18, 2007, 6:45 a.m. We Need More HeroesSpiderman is not going to save us. Liviu Librescu may. By James Bowman Reacting to what many in Britain and elsewhere are regarding as the disgraceful behavior while in captivity of the British sailors and marines kidnapped by the Iranians, Simon Heffer recently wrote in the London Daily Telegraph: “Why are some so weak-minded compared with those 18- year-olds who, within living memory, went over the top on the Somme, or splashed through machine-gun fire onto the Normandy beaches?” Heffer himself belongs to the “I-blame-the-parents” school of thought on this matter...