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#usmchero One weekday each week, I leave the house just before 07:00. I drive to Breaker's Restaurant in Rockaway Beach. I meet a man of almost 80 years of age. His name is Dave. On one level he looks like a very typical "blue-collar" retiree. He bought his house in Pacifica in 1967 for $20,000 US. He stayed in that house until today. It is now worth about $1,800,000. He joined SamTrans and was a bus driver for 27 years. He married and raised three children. His wife of 46 years passed away 10 years ago.
There is another side to quiet and modest Dave. He is a "for real" war hero. In another life, he spent 11 years in the US Marine Corps. He rose to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant. Early in the Vietnam War, he was deployed to South Vietnam. He found himself stationed at a forward base that supplied ammunition and fuel to other Marine Corps units in the area.
One might he was on guard duty at the perimeter fence. A Viet Cong soldier threw a hand grenade over the fence. It landed almost at Dave's feet. There were 2-3 seconds before it exploded. In a nanosecond, Dave knew that he was a dead man, and the explosion would set off ammunition and fuel destroying the base and killing hundreds of Marines.
Dave picked up the grenade and hurled it over the fence back to the Viet Cong. The grenade exploded. It tore off two of Dave's fingers. Today such an injury could have been corrected with very-advanced prosthetics. Dave could have continued his career in the U.S. Marine Corps. That was not the case 54 years ago. Dave was given a medical discharge under honorable circumstances. He was awarded The Bronze Star medal and a generous disability pension for life.
I have been fortunate to have known a few heroes like Dave. They are all quiet and modest men and women.