Who Is Brendan Fraser?

 My VIP for this week is Officer Brendan Foster of the Warren Police Department in Michigan. About 6:00 p.m. last Tuesday, Foster was on patrol when he saw a Chevrolet Camaro speeding, about 80 mph in a 45-mph zone. Foster did not know why the driver was speeding, but he discovered the reason as soon as he pulled over the driver. 

The driver and passenger were frantic as they explained that their 18-month-old baby was not breathing, so they were rushing him to the hospital. As shown on video, Fraser took the child out of the vehicle and noticed that he was turning blue with his eyes rolling into the back of his head. Fraser picked up the baby and gave him several blows to his back. The baby spit up and began to breathe again. With the baby recovering, the officer turned his attention to the relatives and calmed them. Paul Sacca wrote the following about the situation.

Fraser attempted to calm the panicked relatives, “He’s breathing, look at him, he’s OK.”

Fraser said, “It was a big relief, for sure. When the child started breathing, and you saw the color come back around its lips.”

Additional officers arrived at the scene and rushed the baby to a local hospital, and was later transferred to St. John Hospital. The baby has been released from the hospital and is recovering with his family….

“Officer Fraser’s actions on this traffic stop are nothing short of heroic,” Warren Police Commissioner William Dwyer said in a statement, according to the Detroit News. “This incident shows that police work and traffic stops are not always about writing tickets or making arrests.”

“In this case, what started off as a traffic stop for speeding resulted in Officer Fraser saving a child’s life,” the commissioner said. “Officer Fraser relied on his training, communication skills, and compassion as he worked to resuscitate the child. He was also able to calm down the child’s family members who were understandably frantic over the situation.”

Officer Fraser is a hero. This situation is a good example for the importance of having police officers on the streets. We never know when we will face an emergency, and police officers are trained for emergencies.

The American Hero

We celebrate the heroic cowboys (such as Roy Rogers and Gene Autry) and other heroes like John Wayne who rescued damsels in distress. We honor the American heroes of the Greatest Generation that protected the United States and saved the world from Nazism in World War II. We want the police officers and fire fighters to stand between our homes and danger. Yet, many people condemn the toxic masculinity that makes heroes such as Daniel Penny. 

Penny is a former Marine who acted in self-defense as well as the defense of other people on the New York subway when Jordan Neely began making violent and threatening remarks. Neely had an extensive criminal record as well as a documented history of mental illness.

A woman who was on the subway and witnessed the altercation between Penny and Neely told Fox News that passengers on the subway were uncomfortable with Neeley’s remarks. “I’m sitting on a train reading my book, and, all of a sudden, I hear someone spewing this rhetoric. He said, ‘I don’t care if I have to kill an “f,” I will. I’ll go to jail. I’ll take a bullet,’” The woman continued, “I’m looking at where we are in the tube, in the sardine can, and I’m like, ‘OK, we’re in between stations. There’s nowhere we can go.’” She added, “The people on that train, we were scared. We were scared for our lives.”

The continued with her experience. Penny stepped in after Neely used the words “kill” and “bullet” and restrained Neely in a headlock for several minutes. Neely lost consciousness during the restraint and was transported to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Penny stayed at the scene to talk with police officers. His lawyers noted that Penny turned himself in voluntarily and “with the sort of dignity that is characteristic of his dignity of service to this grateful nation.” Penny has been charged with second-degree manslaughter in Neely’s death, but his attorneys claim that he acted in self-defense. Americans agreed with Penny and donated more than $2.6 million to a legal defense fund for the former Marine.

Senator Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) discussed the Penny case in an interview with The Daily Signal about his new book, “Manhood: The Masculine Virtues America Needs.” According to Hawley, Americans do not have all the facts and details necessary to understand the Penny-Neely situation fully.

This is a good example of the extremely confusing signals that the culture and the media and the Left send to young men, which is that you don’t hear much outrage on the Left … about the fact that New York subways and streets are extremely unsafe, and that if you are an everyday citizen walking or traveling, you may well be subject to violence….

That’s just wiped away. We’re supposed to just live with that.

But then, you’ve got a guy who actually puts himself in danger to try to help other people. You’ve got a subway passenger now saying, ‘He saved my life. He put himself in danger.’ That is automatically condemned before we even know all the facts. It’s like, ‘Oh, that must be wrong” or “That must be crazy.’

Young men looking at this situation … will like think, “Well, now, hold on. I thought that a man was supposed to be willing to put himself on the line. Isn’t that what we celebrate in the Greatest Generation, for example, a whole generation of young men who went out there and sacrificed for their country? But you’re telling me now, ‘If I do that, I’m going to be vilified, sued, charged, what have you.’”

As the criminal justice system plays out, Americans will learn the facts and the truth about what happened between Neely and Penny … based on what is known?

It sure looks like the guy who wanted to do good and wanted to protect others is being immediately condemned, while the criminality or potential criminality of the aggressor here is just sort of being overlooked.

Some people claimed that there is a racial motivation to Neely’s death and participated in protests in New York City. Some politicians claim that Penny (who is White) “murdered” Neeley (who is Black). However, the woman who witnessed the altercation told Fox News that Penny did not intend to kill Neely but was acting in self-defense. “It was self-defense, and I believe in my heart that he saved a lot of people that day that could have gotten hurt.”

Hawley continued his discussion about how such incidents can affect men as well as young men:

For men, and young men especially, you can see why [incidents like that of Penny and Neely] sort of pushes them, sort of, into neutral, so to speak… It gets them out of ger and into neutral, where it’s like, ‘Well, if I try to do something with my life, if I’m ambitious in terms of wanting to actually achieve something, if I put myself out there, I’m going to be told I’m “toxic.” I’m going to be told that I’m making the world worse. I’m going to be vilified. If I want to be heroic, I’m going to be told, “No, don’t do that.”’

On the other hand, if you do nothing, if you sit around in your parents’ basement and look at a screen all day, you feel terrible about yourself… [citing the dangers of pornography and social media consumption]. And this is what we’re seeing in men today.

This is the cultural dysfunction that the Left’s ideology has led us to….

And the antidote to that is a better vision. It’s a better message, to say, ‘No, we want you to be a hero. We want you to sacrifice yourself. We want you to put yourself on the line. We want you to try and serve others.’

That’s what you should do as a man…. You should try to take on the roles of father and husband and warrior. Those are good things, and we should encourage our young men to do that.

Americans should be grateful for leaders like Senator Hawley who defends masculinity in men and femininity in women. Men and women are equal in worth, but we need each other to be complete. We should use the strengths of men and women to make society a better place.

Desmond Doss

                Desmond Thomas Doss is a hero from World War II. He has the distinction of being the first conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor and one of only three so honored. As a corporal in the U.S. Army, he was assigned to the Medical Detachment, 307^th Infantry, 77^th Infantry Division.

                Doss was born on February 7, 1919, in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Thomas Doss and Bertha E. Oliver. He married Dorothy Doss (m. 1942-1991) and Frances Doss (m. 1993-2006) and had one son, Desmond Thomas Doss, Jr. He died on March 23, 2006, in Piedmont, Alabama, and was buried in the Chattanooga National Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

                Pfc Doss was mocked for being unwilling to carry a rifle, but he became a hero because of his courage under fire and love for his men. A November 4^th big-screen release of a movie, “Hacksaw Ridge” tells his incredible story. The movie stars Andrew Garfield, and the screen adaptation by Mel Gibson is “based on a screenplay that had been relegated to `development hell’ for 15 years. The film’s world premiere was [in September] at the esteemed Venice Film Festival, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation.”

                I first heard of Desmond Doss when I read an article written by Mark Alexander at The Patriot Post. Alexander met 76-year-old Doss in 1995, as the two of them lived a few miles apart in east Tennessee. Alexander described Doss and his wife as being “simple people who lived a simple life on a small farm” and “warm and welcoming” people. Doss is described as “humble and slightly built,” wearing “thick glasses,” and being “virtually deaf. Both Doss and his wife were devout Christians.

                Doss “was raised in a Christian tradition which taught that taking up arms to do someone harm was forbidden,” but he declined a religious exemption during World War II. He was as a “conscientious objector” but considered himself to be a “conscientious cooperator” because he felt it “an honor to serve God and country.” He did not want to dodge the draft, but he had no idea what was ahead of him. He was viewed by both officers and enlisted men as a coward because he never picked up a rifle.

                In May 1945, near Urasoe on Okinawa, Doss showed by his actions that he was not a coward but had “limitless courage and character.” The fighting was “horrific,” and “he knew there were many severely wounded soldiers” on the top of Hacksaw Ridge (Maeda Escarpment). He disobeyed an order to retreat and cover and then spent 12 hours rescuing injured men under machine gun, rifle, and mortar fire. One-by-one, he pulled the injured soldiers off the battlefield and lowered them 35 feet to safety.

                The Medal of Honor citation for Doss sounds like fiction, but it honors a real hero as it documents his heroic actions as a medic between April 29 and May 21, 1945.

                “He was a company aid man when the 1^st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands.

                “On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave’s mouth, where he dressed his comrades’ wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety.”

                “On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma.

                “Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire.

                “On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers’ return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77^th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.”

                Doss continued his service to other upon his return to the states. His character was shown by his many acts of honorable service throughout his life. It is only fitting that he receives the honor of having a movie made about him. “Hacksaw Ridge” sounds like a movie that all of us should see.

Neil Armstrong

                    The death of Neil Armstrong passed away from complications from cardiovascular procedures on Friday, August 24, 2012, in Cincinnati, Ohio, at age 82.  Armstrong became one of the greatest heroes of the twentieth century on July 20, 1969, when he became the first man to walk on the moon.  As the world watched on grainy black and white television images, he stepped down from the lunar module.  About the same time he made a statement that is now etched in stone:  "That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind."

                    My husband and I were gathered with several work colleagues in Ventura, California, to watch this great happening.  We understood that history was being made, and we wanted to be a part of it!  There was great excitement in the room as we watched him take the first steps on the moon.  We were also celebrating the fact that the United States had won the space race with Russia by putting the first man on the moon!  Even among the joy of the success, I remember the somewhat worried concern that the astronauts might not make it back to earth or even off the moon.  No one was aware of this possibility more than the astronauts themselves, but they willingly made the trip.  President Richard Nixon had a speech prepared just in case disaster happened!

                    Armstrong described himself as "white-sock, pocket-protector, nerdy engineer" at one of his rare public appearances in 2000.  He was not comfortable with being so famous and shunned the spotlight for most of the rest of his life.  He considered the fact that he stepped out of the module ahead of his fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin just an accident of fate that did not make him anything special.

                    Of course, many other people think differently of his achievement.  NASA administrator Charles Bolden said, "As long as there are history books, Neil Armstrong will be included in them, remembered for taking humankind's first small step on a world beyond our own."

                    Whenever Armstrong was asked to describe his feelings about being the first man to walk on the moon, he always shared the glory.  He was always aware that his accomplishment was the result of the "work of 300,000 to 400,000 people over a decade."

Armstrong was always quiet and modest but courageous and capable.  He remained cool under pressure and did much of his work quietly.  He did not flee from attention, but he never encouraged it. 

                    Neil Armstrong was a remarkable man.  He was a true hero, both in his accomplishment and in his attitude.  He deserves to have his name and accomplishment etched in stone for all eternity!

Dakota Meyer

                    Dakota Meyer received the Medal of Honor on September 15, 2011, and became the first living Marine to receive the medal since the Vietnam War.  He claims that he is no hero, but his life says he is.

                    Meyer was a corporal in the United States Marines on September 8, 2009.  Just before dawn that day, a patrol made up of Afghan forces and American trainers were making their way up a narrow valley on foot on their way to meet with some village elders. Suddenly the lights in the village went out and the patrol was pinned down by heavy Taliban fire.  Corporal Meyer and Staff Sergeant Juan Rodriguez-Chavez were about a mile away but could hear the ambush over the radio.  "It was as if the whole valley was exploding.  Taliban fighters were unleashing a firestorm from the hills, from the stone houses, even from the local school."  The patrol was soon pinned down.  Men were being wounded and killed, and four Americans were surrounded.

                    Four times Dakota requested permission to go rescue his friends, and four times he was denied permission because of the danger.  Finally he could stand it no longer and told Juan that he was going in to help.  "Juan jumped into a Humvee and took the wheel; Dakota climbed into the turret and manned the gun.  They were defying orders, but they were doing what they thought was right.  So they drove straight into a killing zone, Dakota's upper body and head exposed to a blizzard of fire from Ak-47s and machine guns, from mortars and rocket-propelled grenades."  

                    Dakota and Juan drove into the killing zone - not just once or twice but five times.  Each time they found wounded men Dakota would jump out of Humvee - exposing himself to the fire - to put the wounded men into the Humvee and take them for help.  Dakota was shot in the arm on one of the trips.  On the fifth trip into the village, the fire seemed "to come from every window, every doorway, every alley.  And when they finally got to those trapped Americans, Dakota jumped out.  And he ran toward them.  Drawing all those enemy guns on himself.  Bullets kicking up the dirt all around him.  He kept going until he came upon those four Americans, laying where they fell, together as one team.

                    "Dakota and the others who had joined him knelt down, picked up their comrades and - through all those bullets, all the smoke, all the chaos - carried them out, one by one.  Because, as Dakota says, `That's what you do for a brother.'"  Dakota accepted the Medal of Honor in the name of his brothers.

                    Dakota Meyer, who served in both Afghanistan and Iraq, did not stop being a hero nor fighting for his "brothers" when he came home.  Today he has a new mission "to use his fame to draw attention to the alarming unemployment rate among veterans who have served since 9/11."  He doesn't care that much about being a Medal of Honor recipient, "but if I can use that to help veterans get jobs, I will."

                    The statistics about post-9/11 veterans are very sobering: 9.5 percent unemployment (national average 8.2 percent).  The rate for veterans 24 years and younger is 29 percent unemployment (civilian rate is approximately 17 percent).  Neither Meyer nor any of the veterans want charity or feel any sense of entitlement; they simply want jobs.

                    Meyer wants to "make a difference."  His mission is to help the veterans to obtain the proper "tools" in order to compete for jobs successfully.  His mission is being helped along by Toyota and the United States Chamber of Commerce, which has instituted a campaign called Hiring Our Heroes to encourage businesses to hire veterans.  This joint effort will help service members and veterans prepare effective resumes, improve their interview skills, and find jobs as well as encourage businesses to hire veterans.  An added plus of helping veterans to find jobs is national security:  if people know they will be helped when they return from serving their country, they will be more likely to volunteer for the job.   (See Bill Hewitt, "Man on a Mission," Parade Magazine, August 19, 2012, pp. 14-15.)  Dakota Meyer is a modern-day hero.  We should all be very proud of him!

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