Hero of the Week 27

Welcome back viewers!

This week's hero is...

Officer Moira Smith!

Moira Smith was born on February 14, 1963. She became a police officer in the NYPD in the year of 1988 and served for the next 13 years. Her main focus was teaching the people of New York about fire safety emergencies. She was regarded by many as being very dedicated to protecting those around her. However, nothing could have prepared her for September 11, 2001. On that day, Officer Smith's training and dedication would be put to the ultimate test.

September 11, 2001 was a day that began like any other for the United States. The average citizen was up early in the morning and headed to work. In New York City, more than 20,000 people headed to the World Trade Center complex for work and tourism. Few of them could have predicted what would happen after 8 AM. At 8:46 AM, a hijacked plane (American Flight 11) crashed into the upper floors of North Tower. Hundreds of people were killed or severely wounded by the impact and more than a thousand became trapped throughout the tower.

Within minutes of the crash, thousands of rescue personnel (Officer Smith included) rushed to the scene. They immediately began to evacuate the two buildings. Just as minutes after Officer Smith arrived on the scene the situation became even more dire. United Airlines Flight 175 crashed into the South Tower. Officer Smith quickly ran into the lobby of the South Tower to evacuate the people inside and direct them to safety.

One of the biggest dangers for the evacuees was falling debris (and bodies). Officer Smith quickly organized a route to an exit that was mostly clear of debris and fire. She kept people moving in a slow but orderly fashion and told them to keep doing so without looking at the scene around them (she wanted to prevent them from seeing the carnage). Smith did this to prevent mass hysteria that could cause a human crush or a bottleneck at the exits of the South Tower. She personally escorted a number of severely injured or disoriented people to ambulances. 

During the evacuation, a photograph was snapped of her escorting a severely wounded man (Ed Nicholls) out of the building. Ed Nicholls was one of only 14 people to escape from the impact zone of the South Tower. Despite his severe wounds, he would survive. This photograph would become an iconic image of 9/11. 

It would also be the last of Officer Moira Smith. Immediately after escorting Nicholls to an ambulance, Smith reentered the South Tower. She was last seen heading up the stair case to help a woman who was suffering an asthma attack. Minutes later at 9:59 AM, the South Tower collapsed. The North Tower would collapse 29 minutes later at 10:28. A total of 2,763 people were killed at the World Trade Center. Officer Moira Smith was one of 71 police officers (and one of two female officers) who died in the collapse of the towers. She was 38 years old.

The morning of September 11, 2001 was probably the saddest in American history. However it is important to acknowledge and remember the heroism of those who came to rescue. Numerous men and women like put their lives on the line to help their fellow citizens. As a result of their heroism, more than 20,000 people were saved from the World Trade Center before the towers collapsed. Officer Moira Smith was one of those people. She truly was a remarkable woman who was dedicated to helping as many people as she could. I believe that she should be regarded as one of the greatest heroes in American history.

https://www.investors.com/news/management/leaders-and-success/nypd-moira-smith-rescued-hundreds-911/

http://www.moirasmith.com

http://womenyoushouldknow.net/remember-911-story-nypd-officer-moira-smith/

http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1034730.1331146509!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_750/hamill8n-1-web.jpg

Hero of the Week 26

Welcome back viewers!

This week we will honor two heroes who share a connection.

Let me introduce:

Armin T. Wegner and Iris Chang!

 

These two people were born on different continents and at different times. Although they grew up in the same century, they never met once in either of their lifetimes. And yet, they both share a major connection. They bore witness to some of the most terrible atrocities that were committed in the 20th Century. They both dedicated their lives to shedding light on these atrocities. And both of them paid a heavy price for doing so. 

Part 1

Armin Theophil Wegner was born on October 16, 1886 in Wupertal, Germany. At the outbreak of World War I, he enlisted in the German Army as a medic. He fought in Poland during the winter of 1914-1915 and received the Iron Cross for valor on the battlefield. In April of 1915, Wegner became part of the German Sanitary Corps and was transferred to the Middle East to give aide to Germany's ally, Ottoman Turkey. For a while, he provided medical aid to wounded Turkish soldiers. However, everything changed when he went on leave. 

Armin Wegner had heard rumors of massacres committed by the Turks against the people of Armenia. He decided to personally investigate these rumors to see if they were true. To his horror, he found that they were.

The German command had given orders for German soldiers to not interfere with the Turks. This included what they were doing to the Armenians. Despite these orders, Wegner decided to secretly document the Armenian genocide. For nearly a year, he secretly collected notes, documents, letters, and annotations. He also took hundreds of photographs of massacres, mass deportations, and even concentration camps.

Eventually the Turks became aware of Wegner's documentation of their crimes and complained to the German high command. Armin Wegner was then recalled to Germany and much of his of photographs were destroyed. However, he still managed to hide and smuggle many of them back. Wegner remained in Germany until the end of World War I. In 1919, he sent a letter addressed to President Woodrow Wilson. In this letter, he asked the president to give support to the Armenian people who had survived the genocide. Despite Wegner's efforts, neither President Wilson nor any other political figures addressed or even acknowledged the Armenian genocide. 

Part II

Iris Chang was born on March 28, 1968 in Princeton, New Jersey. While growing up, she became interested in Chinese history. After she graduated from college with a bachelor's degree in journalism, Chang began to make monthly visits to China. One field she primarily focused on was the Chinese experience in World War II. It was here that she learned of a terrible act of genocide that took place just a few years before the start of the Second World War. This was the massacre of thousands of people within the city of Nanking at the hands of Japanese soldiers. This act was known as, "The Rape of Nanking".

Chang had heard stories from her grandparents of Japanese atrocities against the people of China before and during World War II. When she visited China, Chang decided to investigate the massacre. She was able to locate numerous survivors (and even some Japanese soldiers) and interview them. She also found thousands of pictures and rare documents that gave astonishing details about the Nanking Massacre. It was then that Iris Chang also discovered that most people around the world (mainly the United States and Europe) knew almost nothing about it. She realized that the massacre would most likely be completely forgotten unless someone forced the world to remember. In 1994, she decided to write a book about the atrocities that were committed at Nanking.

In 1997, Iris Chang published the book, The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II. Her book detailed the horrific massacre that was committed by Japanese soldiers. These atrocities ranged from mass executions, killing contests, gang rape, and mutilation. The details of the six week massacre that began on December 13, 1937 were told from the point of view of both Chinese survivors, Japanese soldiers, and numerous foreigners (mainly people from Europe and the US) who bore whiteness. In her book, Chang estimated that as many as 300,000 people were murdered in Nanking. 

Her book also told the story of the brave foreign journalists, missionaries, doctors, and diplomats who established an International Safety Zone within the city. This zone (which Japanese soldiers were ordered not to enter) was used to shelter thousands of Chinese civilians and fleeing soldiers from the Japanese. These foreigners not only saved thousands of people, it was they who secretly filmed and documented the massacres that were being committed by the Japanese (this was where Iris got much of her references). 

Chang's book became a New York Times best seller and sold more than half a million copies within the United States. It also received critical claim by historians for its accuracy and its graphic depictions of the Nanking Massacre. Iris immediately became a national celebrity and was repeatedly asked to give lectures by numerous news agencies. In a single year, she visited at least 65 cities to give interviews about her book. The Rape of Nanking, is still regarded by many historians as one of the best books ever written. However there was at least one nation was not pleased with Iris Chang's book. Within the country of Japan, the book caused an uproar among Japanese critics and historians who called it completely fictitious and full of fabrications. Although the book was eventually published in Japan (in 2007) most Japanese citizens remain ignorant of the Nanking Massacre and deny that it ever happened.

Epilogue

In the aftermath of World War I, Armin Wegner continued to advocate for the people of Armenia. He wrote numerous papers about what he had whitenessed and documented. Unfortunately most of his pleas fell on deaf ears. When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis rose to power in 1933, Wegner's horrific experiences were reawakened. He began to see the persecution of Jews within Germany. Hoping to prevent history from repeating itself, Wegner sent a letter to Hitler openly denouncing the latter's persecution of the Jews. Within days, Armin Wegner was arrested by the Gestapo and imprisoned in a concentration camp near Lichtenberg. He was released after a year in captivity and fled to Italy where he lived under an assumed name for the whole of World War II. Although Wegner was honored by Israel (he received Righteous among the Nations) and the survivors of the Armenian genocide, he was virtually forgotten by the rest of the world. He died in Rome on May 17, 1978. He was 91 years old.

Despite Iris's fame and recognition, it came at a bitter cost for her. Most of her friends and family did not know it, but Iris Chang suffered from severe depression. As a result, she became victimized by her own research (which greatly disturbed and traumatized her). Hearing the graphics stories of torture killings and repeated raping of women took a terrible toll on her. Although she did her best to hide it, her depression only continued to get worse as she got older. Ultimately it became unbearable. On November 9, 2004, Iris Chang committed suicide. She was only 36 years old. She is regarded by many as the, "final victim" of the Nanking Massacre.

Throughout history, many acts of genocide have been committed. The identities of the perpetrators and the victims might be different but the end result is always the same (thousands or millions of people being killed). Sadly, genocide has continued to be committed across the globe and it likely to repeat itself in the future. However, there are those who have shown that genocide can be stopped from ever happening again. These people are the ones who witness it and speak out. Armin Wegner and Iris Chang were among those people. They both bore witness to acts of genocide and decided to make sure that these tragedies would never be forgotten. Ranging from documentation and publishing books, they epitomize the true value of what it means to be a historian, a journalist, and someone who cares about making a better future. 

Although Armin T. Wegner and Iris Chang are now gone, their work remains. Because of them, the voices of the victims of Armenia and Nanking will always be remembered. I believe that if people today could learn about who they were, what they did, and why they did it, the world could become a much better place and prevention of the next genocide will be possible. All it takes is one person, to give a voice to the many who cannot speak. Can you do it?

http://www.yadvashem.org/righteous/stories/wegner.html

http://www.armenian-genocide.org/wegnerbio.html

http://www.armin-t-wegner.us/biography/

http://100years100facts.com/facts/armin-wegner-took-pictures-saw-1915/

https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/armin-wegner-the-german-who-stood-up-to-genocide-of-both-armenians-and-jews-1.2201998

http://www.irischang.net/about/

http://www.scmp.com/culture/books/article/2096452/how-rape-nanking-author-iris-chang-honoured-chinese-museum-newly

Chang, Iris (1998). The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II

http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Historian-Iris-Chang-won-many-battles-The-war-2679354.php

Hero of the Week 25

Welcome back viewers!

This week's hero is...

Freddie Stowers!

Freddie Stowers was born on January 26, 1896 in Sandy Springs, South Carolina. He enlisted in the military on October 4, 1917 when the United States entered World War I. Much of his early life is not known. But in the Great World War I, Freddie Stowers would display some of the most courageous and valiant conduct in the history of the US military.

On September 28, 1918, Corporal Stowers was serving as the leader of a squad from Company C of the 371st Infantry regiment (a segregated unit). They were among a large force that was assaulting Cote (hill) 188 in the Champagne Marne Sector of France. As they began their attack, Stowers and his men came under heavy fire from the German defenders. For a while the attackers and defenders traded fire until some of the Germans put up their hands as if to surrender. This caused the men of Company C (Stowers included) to believe that the fight was over. As a result they left their trench and ventured out into no man's land to capture the surrendering Germans. Almost immediately the Germans picked up their guns and fired into the advancing Americans.

The men of Company C were quickly decimated by this volume of fire and found themselves caught in the open with no cover. Amid the carnage, Cpl. Freddie Stowers quickly rallied a handful of men and launched a counter-attack on the Germans. He personally led the charge to the German trenches. It was then that he was struck by machine gun fire. Even then, Stowers continued to charge and lead his men until he was hit a second time. Although he was unable to move he continued to shout encouragement to his comrades who continued to press their attack on Cote 188. The men of Company C eventually advanced up the hill and pierced the German trenches. After a long and brutal fight, the Germans retreated and Cote 188 was captured.

The battle of Cote 188 was a victory for the Americans. But they had won it at a terrible cost. More than half of Company C had been annihilated in the assault. Cpl. Freddie Stowers was among the dead. He succumbed to his wounds during the final assault on Cote 188. He was buried in France with 133 of his comrades. He was recommended for the Medal of Honor along with three other African-Americans for valor in World War I. Instead however, he (along with the others) posthumously received the Distinguished Service Cross (the second-highest award in the US military). The decision for this was done due to new criteria for receiving the Medal of Honor (it is very likely that racism was also a major factor).

For more than 70 years, the heroism of Freddie Stowers was largely forgotten. Until 1990, when the Department of the Army conducted a review of the service of black soldiers in World Wars I and II. It was then that the department decided to upgrade Stowers's Distinguished Service Cross to the Medal of Honor. On April 21, 1991, President George Bush Sr posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor to Freddie Stowers. His two sisters received it on his behalf.

The story of Freddie Stowers is one that needs to be told because it sheds light on a very sad truth about the world. This is the truth that most of the people hardly ever receive much or any kind of acknowledgement for the heroic deeds. Freddie Stowers was one of those people. Like thousands of soldiers before him, he answered the call to duty and displayed incredible courage in the face of battle. Although he is remembered as a great hero today, I find it very sad that he was forgotten by the American public for so many years. It makes wonder how many other people did something wonderful and have been forgotten. Ultimately, I believe Freddie Stowers is one of the greatest unsung heroes in history. Hopefully he will never be forgotten again.

http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/fstowers.htm

https://www.army.mil/article/9075/medal_of_honor_recognition_long_overdue

https://www.abmc.gov/learning-resources/lesson-plans/freddie-stowers-american-hero

https://www.abmc.gov/sites/default/files/curriculum/chapters/materials/Section%205—SC%20House%20Bil%205393.pdf

Hero of the Week 24

Welcome back viewers!

This week's hero is...

Henryk Ross

Henryk Ross was born on May 1, 1910 in Warsaw, Poland. For the early part of his life, Ross worked as a sports photographer for the Warsaw newspaper. Like most people around the world, he lived a normal life and made a decent living for his family. But all of that changed when the Nazis invaded Poland and World War II began.

The Nazis invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. In just over a month, the Polish government surrendered. By the end of the year, they already began passing anti-Jewish ordinances that were meant to strip away the rights of Poland's Jewish citizens (Ross and his family among them). Jews in Poland lost their homes, most of their possessions, and were forced to wear a yellow star in public. Eventually, they were forcefully relocated to "temporary" resettlement camps called, "ghettos". 

Ross and his family were among 160,000 Jews who were forced to relocate to a large ghetto (second largest after the one in Warsaw) in the city of Lodz in May of 1940. The conditions inside the Lodz ghetto were deplorable. It was only about four square miles on the inside. It was closed off from the rest of the city and surrounded by barbed wire, walls, and heavily armed guards. The Jews inside the over-crowded ghetto began to starve on a daily basis. 

Like most of prisoners in the ghetto, Ross tried to make the best of his situation. He managed to get a job as one of the official photographers in the ghetto. His job was to produce identity and take propaganda photographs for the Nazi Department of Statistics within the ghetto. This was done for the purpose of convincing the outside world (namely the Red Cross) that people inside the ghetto were being well-treated. In other words, they wanted Ross to help them hide the deplorable true conditions of the ghetto in Lodz. This also meant that Ross had access to film and processing facilities within the ghetto. He took photographs of weddings, happy workers, families, and children playing in the street. All the while being watched by the Nazi guards.

However, what the Nazis did not know was that Henryk Ross was secretly resisting them. Whenever he had the chance, Ross snapped photographs of the atrocities of the Lodz ghetto. He took photographs of starving workers, dying children in the street, public hangings, shootings, and beatings from the guards. Ross was even able to take photos of Jews being forced into cattle cars and taken to death camps. Sometimes he even shot pictures through holes in the walls or cracks in a door. He did this with great risk to himself and his family. If the Nazis found out that Ross was secretly working to expose their atrocities, he and his family would have been executed. 

In the summer of 1944, the Nazis losing the war. It was then that they began to officially liquidate the Lodz ghetto. By this time, Henryk Ross had secretly taken more than 6,000 pictures of life in the ghetto. By now most of the Jews in the Lodz ghetto were either dead or deported to concentration camps. Ross knew that he and his family would eventually be deported or murdered, so he decided it was time to escape. Before leaving however, he decided to bury his pictures just in case he did not survive the war. He later said in an interview, "I buried my negatives in the ground in order to ensure that there should be some record of our tragedy. Namely, the total elimination of the Jews from Lodz by the Nazi executioners. I was anticipating the total destruction of Polish Jewry. I wanted to leave a historical record of our martyrdom." After doing so, Ross and his family escaped from the ghetto and went into hiding. They managed to survive until Lodz was liberated by the Soviet Red Army.

It is estimated that a total of 45,000 Jewish people were murdered in the Lodz ghetto. Tens of thousands more were deported to death camps in Poland like Chelmno, Belzec, and Treblinka. Only around 877 (Henryk Ross included) survived their ordeal inside the ghetto of Lodz. Like many Holocaust survivors, Ross and his family immigrated to Israel and started a new life. A few years later though, he returned to Lodz and dug up the negatives that he had buried. Although many had been damaged over the years, others were still readable. Henryk Ross took them back to Israel and set them aside in his house for a bit. When Adolf Eichmann (one of the main architects of the Holocaust) was put on trial 1961, Ross was one of those to testify against him. It was there that he showed his remarkable photographs to the rest of the world. They were instrumental in getting Eichmann convicted. 

Henryk Ross continued to live in Israel until his death in 1991, at the age of 81. As of today, Ross's photographs can be found in museums all around the world including: Israel's Yad Vashem and the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. They have been recognized as some of the most powerful and horrifying images of the Holocaust. 

A genocide is basically the ultimate crime and ultimate tragedy of humanity. It is something that can never be ignored and never be forgotten. The courageous actions of Henryk Ross ensured that the Holocaust will always be remembered. He recognized the horrible reality that he had been thrown into and knew that the outside world needed to know the truth. So he chose to risk his life in order to take pictures and make sure the story of the Lodz ghetto would never be forgotten. His bravery in secretly resisting the Nazis right under their noses gave the victims of the Lodz ghetto a voice. I believe that Henryk Ross was one of the greatest men in history.

https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2017/03/20/a-jewish-photographers-view-of-a-nazi-controlled-ghetto-henryk-ross/

http://agolodzghetto.com

http://www.yadvashem.org/yv/en/education/newsletter/32/henryk_ross.asp

https://www.utata.org/sundaysalon/henryk-ross/

Hero of the Week 23

Happy New Everyone!

To start off the year, we will honor a team of heroes

Let me introduce...

The Lost Battalion!

The Lost Battalion was a moniker given to nine companies of the American 77th Infantry Division that became cut off and surrounded during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive of 1918. For a total of five days, faced an onslaught of repeated attacks that ate away at their numbers. Their story is considered one of the greatest of the American experience in World War I.

The men who would become the Lost Battalion were originally part of an attacking force during the Hundred Days Campaign. They were to be the center part of a three way attack force. With elements of the American 28th Infantry division on their right flank, and a corps of the French 4th Army on their left, the men of the Lost Battalion would hopefully penetrate deep into German positions in the Argonne Forest and secure a foothold. In command of the battalion was Major. Charles Whittlesey. Captain George McMurtry (a veteran Rough Rider) was second-in command. The attack on the German held Argonne forest began on the morning of October 2.

Whittlesey's battalion of about 575 was able to fight its way through the initial German fortifications and successfully penetrated at least six miles into German held territory. Unfortunately, the French and American units on the battalion's two flanks failed to achieve their objectives. As a result, the Lost Battalion became surrounded by thousands of German soldiers and stranded in the middle of the Argonne without any support. Realizing the gravity of his situation, Major Whittlesey quickly arranged his rifleman and machine gunners in an oval-shaped perimeter that was about 300 yards wide and 60 yards deep. They then waited for the German counter-attack.

They did not have to wait long. The Germans launched their attack just hours after the American battalion had dug in. For the next five days, the Germans launched attack after attack on the lost battalion. Both sides suffered heavy casualties in the vicious fighting that involved grenades, flame-throwers, and hand-to-hand combat. Any plane that attempted to supply the Lost Battalion was shot down by German gunners. Captain McMurtry was severely wounded early in the fighting, yet continued to fight and lead his men.

During a break in the German assaults, the Lost Battalion attempted to direct an artillery barrage on the Germans. They used pigeons to carry messages. The American artillery received the message and fired a barrage of artillery. Unfortunately it landed directly in the middle of the American battalion. In utter desperation, they sent their last carrier pigeon named, Cher Ami (dear friend) to deliver a message to stop the friendly fire. As soon a Cher Ami took flight, she was repeatedly shot at by the Germans. Despite being shot numerous times, she made it to American lines with the message and the friendly fire stopped. 

The German's demanded the battalion surrender at least two times. Both times Major Whittlesey refused, even though more than half of his force was either dead, wounded, or missing. The vicious fighting continued for the next few days (eventually, Whittlesey himself had to enter the fray). It finally ended on October 7, when an American relief force broke through the German lines and forced the latter to retreat. By then the Lost Battalion had suffered 107 men killed, 190 wounded, and 63 missing/captured. Only 194 men were able to walk from the Argonne Forest.  More than 26,000 American soldiers were killed while fighting in the Argonne Forest. The Meuse-Argonne Offensive was one of the last and bloodiest of World War I. The War ended just a month after the Lost Battalion was rescued.

Epilogue:

The men of the Lost Battalion were highly decorated and praised for their heroism. Seven (including Charles Whittlesey and George McMurtry) received the Congressional Medal of Honor for their heroism and at least 30 received the Distinguished Service Cross. The pigeon Cher Ami, received the Croix de Guerre for her heroism. Sadly, she died due to complications of her wounds in 1919.

Charles Whittlesey eventually retired from the military at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. He later became an attorney and served as a pallbearer for the Unknown Soldier of World War I. Tragically, the invisible wounds of war proved too much for Whittlesey. Like millions of veterans around the world, he was continually haunted by his war experience. Whittlesey disappeared on November 26, 1921. He is presumed to have committed suicide. He was 37 years old. George McMurtry died on November 22, 1958 at the age of 82.

The men of the Lost Battalion were just a few of the millions of men and women who served their country during World War I. Like many before and after, they fought against overwhelming odds and not only survived, they won. As of today, they along with every other WWI veteran has passed on. Yet even now we should never forget their brave dedication and sacrifice. I believe that we should always remember the Lost Battalion's story just like we remember other great stories involving World War I.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2017/11/10/on-veterans-day-a-lost-battalion-a-war-hero-and-a-heartbreaking-suicide/?utm_term=.cf168a1562db

https://www.americanheritage.com/content/lost-battalion

https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2017/07/21/the-lost-battalion-of-world-war-i/

https://smleo.com/2016/02/02/george-g-mcmurtry-and-the-lost-battalion/