Proud to be American

At one award ceremony I attended in Iraq, twenty Marines received the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. Their injuries were incurred in some of the toughest gunfights I’ve ever seen. By the midpoint of their seven-month deployment, 116 Marines in the battalion had been wounded in action, yet seventy of them chose to stay in the fight even though, as a consequence of multiple wounds, they could have gone home. I asked Lt. David Dobb, who sustained injuries to his hand, why so many of these young men decided to stick it out even though they’d been hurt. “This is what these Marines signed up to do,” he told me, “and we’re going to see this mission through until the job’s done the way it is supposed to be done.”

Sgt Kenneth Conde, a squad leader with the 2nd Bn, 4th Marines, was leading a nighttime raid when insurgents tried to ambush the platoon. In the ensuing fight, Sgt Conde was hit in the shoulder by enemy fire.

Though badly wounded, Sgt Conde stayed in the fight and refused to be evacuated until after the engagement. After being patched up at the aid station, he was back with his squad—even though he could have had “a ticket home.” I asked him why he decided to stay. “There’s no other choice for a sergeant in the Marine Corps,” Conde explained. “You have to lead your Marines.”

That has been the overwhelming attitude of the young American soldiers, sailors, airmen, Guardsmen, and Marines I have been covering since 2001 all around the globe. They are in harm’s way, far from home and loved ones—often in the most arduous conditions imaginable while their countrymen are tucked safely in bed. They are on duty 24/7 for months on end. Though most are too young to buy a legal adult beverage, they have already had more responsibility entrusted to them than their civilian peers will be granted in their lifetimes. And they do it all with grace, humility, and courage that should make anyone proud to be called an American.

That’s what heroes do.

from the book American Heroes by Oliver North Copyright ©2008. All RIghts Reserved.
Published by B&H Publishing Group, Nashville, Tennessee.