Every Day Heroes

From the NY Times, via Instapundit:

Their names are Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and Sgt. Rafael Peralta. If you have never heard of them, even in a week when more than 20 marines were killed in Iraq by insurgents, that might be because the military, the White House and the culture at large have not publicized their actions with the zeal that was lavished on the heroes of World War I and World War II.

Three you will find here are Sgt. First Class Paul R. (Ray, by the way) Smith, Sgt. Leigh Ann Hester and Sgt. Rafael Peralta.

Follow the links to Smith and Hester and you'll find video coverage of their stories, from the many such files the Pentagon makes available free to anyone who wants them on the world wide web. You'll also find links to local media coverage of virtually any of the hero stories linked here.

But kudos to the Times for wondering if they have a problem - the next step in recovery would be to admit that they do. (That won't occur quite so publically, if at all.) But I'll let others determine the Times' motive for pretending to be unaware of these stories, or for trying to blame the White House or (stunningly worse) the public for their own professed corporate ignorance.

And one of those others is the author of an LA Times column introducing SFC Smith that we linked here earlier this year. He wasn't addressing the NY Times, of course, but he was arguing the existence of a certain rigid mindset that permeates both academia and the "mainstream" media - two segments of society increasingly far removed from mainstream America. An excerpt from that earlier Mudville story:

Turning Corners?

Guess who said it (bonus points for where):

Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith of the U.S. Army was the first Iraq war soldier to win the Congressional Medal of Honor ? posthumously. On April 4, 2003, a group of American soldiers building a POW compound were slammed by a surprise attack. Smith organized a defense, then moved under fierce fire to an unprotected machine gun. He kept firing as the wounded were brought to safety and the attack driven off. Meanwhile he was hit, fatally.

Even Iraq war opponents and Bush-haters say they honor Smith's courage. But their "honor" is mostly a sham. Unless you understand what drives a man like Sgt. Smith to become a soldier, the honor you do him is honor with a footnote (he was a brave man, but obviously some kind of weirdo).

...my colleagues seem determined to turn American soldiers into an out-of-sight, out-of-mind servant class who are expected to do their duty and keep their mouths shut.

The LA Times has since flushed that column into their archives, but you can read the whole thing here.

Meanwhile, back at the NY Times, the closing paragraph ironically reveals more of the gulf between American media and America:

It is a rhetorical split that mirrors the larger national divide between the minority who serve in the military and those who do not, said Anthony Swofford, a former Marine and the author of "Jarhead." And it leaves important stories untold and unappreciated. "There might be heroes," Mr. Swofford said, "in some of those coffins."

We'll stick with "every day" here.

(Type hero in that search window. Many are still among us, others aren't. Here's one from New York, perhaps the Times could start there.)

Update: Another source of info on these heroes:

Paul Ray Smith

Leigh Ann Hester

They just don't make the front page. Probably because of "the culture at large".

Times' reporter Eric Schmitt's name comes up with both those searches. Perhaps Damien Cave, author of the current piece, could interview him, learn how he does it. Then he could write about Peralta.

Update 2: The first-ever NY Times headline on Paul Ray Smith: "Medals for His Valor, Ashes for His Wife ". That's no longer available for free, but from the abstract the story seems as simple as the headline - he gets a medal, she gets a box of ashes.

Especially repulsive, given the stories they chose not to tell:

TAMPA - Birgit Smith came to the United States 13 years ago from Germany but says she didn't know what it meant to be an American until her husband, a soldier, died in Iraq in an extraordinary act of bravery that earned him the Medal of Honor.

So on Wednesday, with her heart bursting with both pride and sorrow, Smith took the oath of citizenship and then led 290 of her new fellow Americans in the Pledge of Allegiance.

"I know Paul's extremely proud," Smith, 38, said after a ceremony at the Tampa Convention Center. "I feel whole now. I don't feel like something is missing inside of me."

It was a poignant and celebratory moment for the mother of two who said she was so moved by Americans' reaction to the death of her husband, Army Sgt. 1st Class Paul Ray Smith, she wanted to join them in citizenship.

"It is a great nation and I wanted to become a bigger part of it," Birgit Smith said following the ceremony. "I am extremely proud and I know my husband would be proud of me now. I know he was with me today."

The citizenship ceremony came just six weeks after President Bush awarded Paul Smith the Medal of Honor, the highest award for bravery the president can bestow, on what was the second anniversary of the battle near Baghdad International Airport. Paul Smith, who died at 33, is the first soldier from the Iraq war to receive the honor.

"It's unbelievable how people come up to me - strangers - they come up to me and hug me and cry," Birgit Smith said as her new citizenship certificate and small American flag balanced on her lap. "I wanted to be a part of this great nation."
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Smith said she felt her husband's presence in the cavernous hall at the Tampa Convention Center where scores gathered for the ceremony. She was joined by about 300 other people representing 64 nations, some of them veterans and others currently serving in the U.S. military, as they watched patriotic videos and took the Oath of Allegiance, in which ties to other countries are renounced.

Smith said that part was made easier by her feelings toward Germany since the war began in Iraq. "I had a pretty good grudge against them for not supporting us."

Many in the crowd alternately dabbed their eyes and waved their American flags as the lyrics "I'm proud to be an American" from the song "God Bless the USA" played - as it is at all citizenship ceremonies. It also happened to be Paul Smith's favorite song, his family said.

"We can see him singing that song," said Janice Pvirre, Paul Smith's mother, who joined her daughter-in-law at the ceremony. "It's very touching."

Pvirre wore a metal emblem in the shape of a dog tag bearing her son's image and tightly embraced her daughter-in-law as Birgit Smith finished to the oath which made her American citizenship official.

"Birgit becoming a citizen has freed her," Pvirre said. "It gave her a sense of freedom, a sense of total belonging."

At the end, Smith led the group in the Pledge of Allegiance and then headed back to Pasco County with her mother-in-law.

They stopped for lunch along the way. For her first meal as a citizen, Smith kept it simple: a Greek salad and decaf coffee. "I should have had a Big Mac," she said. "That's really American."

Update 3: Local papers do a wonderful job of covering the stories of heroes - and aren't afraid to call them heroes. Via e-mail Tim Sumner (of 911 Families) brings one such example to our attention, from the NY Daily News:

He served his city and died protecting his country.

James McNaughton, a city cop and Army Reserves staff sergeant, was gunned down Tuesday near Baghdad - becoming the first of New York's Finest killed in the line of duty in Iraq.

"He believed in what he was doing," said his devastated father, William McNaughton, a recently retired NYPD cop. "I'm proud of what he's done.

"To me, he's a hero."
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As mourners streamed in and out of the McNaughtons' split-level ranch home, his father proudly shared that his son had been born in West Point, N.Y., while he was in the Army.

"You can't get any more American than that," he said.

James McNaughton was raised in Centereach and was a member of Centereach High School's wrestling team.

He joined the Army after he graduated, his father said, and became a military police officer.

"So he was a cop at 18 years old," the father said, as the family's American flag fluttered at half-staff in front of their home. "He's been carrying a gun since he was 18."

After his enlistment with the Army was over, he signed up with the reserves and entered the Police Academy in 2001 - and was among the first class to graduate after 9/11.

McNaughton was called up from the reserves for the first time in October 2002 and served a tour in the U.S. He shipped out to Iraq just after Christmas last year.

His stepmother, Michele McNaughton, said she didn't worry about James. "Never," she said. "It's what he believed in."

At Transit District 2, on Lispenard Street and West Broadway, police officers expressed shock at the news of their fellow officer's death. "He gave his all; he literally gave his all," said Officer Edward Looney. Another, Officer Michael Percy, said that he was not sure whether Sergeant McNaughton had traveled to Iraq out of obligation or dedication. Whatever his reasons, Officer Percy said, his decision was not driven by politics.

Update 4: I'd be remiss if I failed to note Blackfive's efforts - Fallen But Never Forgotten and Someone You Should Know.