Heroes are men and women who do what is needed, often at great personal risk, to save others in the course of battle. Heroism at its most genuine level is not planned, but performed in reaction to events that imperil the warrior and his peers.  Our culture desperately needs heroes and to celebrate them for what they mean to this nation.  We can only forget at our peril because it is the legend of our heroes that serves to inspire us during our darkest hours.

Heroes are natural leaders.  They don't ask for additional instructions or  ever for protective cover from the warrior in the next foxhole.  They stare into the face of a murderess enemy and  at their own call, take risks that cannot be measured.   George O'Brien, a Marine who recently died in his native Texas, led his platoon in a charge down a ridgeline in Korea that spoofed over a thousand Chinese soldiers.  O'Brien, a Second Lieutenant, didn't wait for those at his command at the Hook.  He was never less than 20 feet in front of his platoon.  His grit and determination inspired those that were there as they turned defeat into victory.

Gordon Ray Roberts, a quiet man from Ohio, is that kind of hero. In 1969, he was a young Army specialist nicknamed "Bird Dog" as a point man in the 101st Airborne Division. He already held a Silver and Bronze Star when his day of reckoning came. An Two Army companies were being decimated in the A Shau Vallley when Roberts and his platoon swung into action. Enemy fire was withering.  But Roberts was not deterred.  The entrapped unit was being annihilated by three machine guns.  Throwing caution to the wind, Roberts swung into action.  He wiped out two gun nests with small arms fire and a third with grenades.  He was so busy delivering mortal blows that he failed to notice that he was now separated from his platoon.  He soon was himself ensnarled by vicious small arms fire.  He continued to fight, firing with captured AK-47, until his platoon caught up with him.  Scores are alive due to Roberts' courage.

"I did what was needed," Roberts told me in an interview.  "There are others that would have done what I did."

Is this true?  Where were the others who joined Roberts in delivering mortal blows?    

It just takes a very special person to take matters into their own hands and throw caution into the wind as Roberts did. In studying MOH winners for the past three years, I am not sure that there is a consistent formula for courage.  More than anything else, I think that they do what they do because they believe it is needed.  I also think that they have a spiritual confidence that everything will be all right in the end.

Today, Roberts is the youngest living Medal of Honor winner in America.  At 57, one would think that he is past his prime, ready to kick back and enjoy the good things in life. Not Roberts, he is an active duty Army Lieutenant Colonel who soon will be a Colonel.  At this is being written he is on his way to Kuwait.  Last year he was in Iraq.

"Bird Dog" didn't join the Army to be a colonel.  He joined so that he could be the first person in his family to go to college, a promise he made to his mother when he enlisted.  After his first stint in the Army, he left to pursue a degree in social work from Dayton University. After 18 years away, he missed the Army. He was offered a direct commission as an officer and accepted. For most of the past ten years, he has been stationed at Fort Bragg except for his overseas tours.  He has been content to fade from the limelight.  He is not the kind of man that will ask for a parade.

Roberts plans on three or four more years in the Army.  His age doesn't slow him down, how could it?  He loves this nation and the Army, and that shows in how he lives his life. As Memorial Day approaches, we need to pay tribute to men and women like Gordon Roberts.  Those who risked all for us.  Their courage has made America what it is, nothing less.  God bless our youngest hero.