A good article from Naval Institute Proceedings:
Why Are Victims Our Only War Heroes?We are at war. Our enemy, the terrorist, knows he cannot win militarily, certainly not in terms of manpower or weaponry, so he somehow must get us to back down- wear us down and diminish our resolve. He hopes to do that through images and perceptions. The ultimate battle of the global war on terrorism will be fought in the hearts and minds of Americans.
We must make a concerted, deliberate effort to counterbalance the terrorists' tactic. Thus far, we have overlooked perhaps the most important image in our arsenal, that of the hero in war, and of his or her determination. It is an image we have failed to present adequately in our prosecution of this war. In earlier times, the American public could recite names such as Boatswain's Mate Reuben James, Lieutenant William Cushing, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, Sergeant Alvin York, Mess Attendant Dorie Miller, and Sergeant Audie Murphy as easily as they could their own home addresses. The individual heroes of the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, however, generally are unknown. Deluged by lengthy, detailed stories of the extreme efforts taken by terrorists, we have heard little of the extreme efforts taken by members of the U.S. armed forces.
We help our enemies by default, by allowing lesser images to be presented as substitutes. Everyone knows the name Jessica Lynch. She wore her country's uniform, went willingly to her duty in Iraq, and suffered grievous injuries, but does she qualify to be known first among those who served in this war? We have brushed aside battlefield resolution and actions which should be foremost and allowed the image of victimization and suffering to take its place.
There were victim-heroes pre-Korea, but there were also tons on non-victim heroes. Post-WWII, I can't name any of that type.
They left off my favorite hero from WWI - Eddie Rickenbacker. If you ever get a chance to read a biography about him, do it. He was awesome his whole life. Although I understand that when he was lost at sea in the Pacific in WWII, his boatmates wanted to eat him. Maybe a little Eddie went a long way.
Nonetheless, if I had a time machine, I'd beam back to WWI to visit Eddie.
