HERO

Next semester, I'm teaching a class on the Hero Myth. Growing up, I always heard stories like Sgt. Rafael Peralta's, but I always assumed it was just a result of the progession of that same Hero Myth, an exemplification of the sacrifice and devotion of all men to their causes. I should have remembered that somewhere, some way, all those myths are built upon a kernel of truth. Sgt. Peralta's story is one which can stand among any that I will be looking at in the upcoming class.

It's a shame that you won't read words like these in the mainstream media.

Kaemmerer recounts how later on the night of Nov. 15, a friend approached him and said: "You're still here; don't forget that. Tell your kids, your grandkids, what Sgt. Peralta did for you and the other Marines today." Don't forget. Good advice for all of us.

Well said.