OT: My Pantheon of Heroes

[KT-45]

These are the people I hold dear. Either through personal courage, sacrifice, or sheer ability they are the ones I place in my "Pantheon of Heroes"

- Joshua Lawerence Chamberlain
- Eddie Rickenbacker
- Anthony B. Herbert
- George S. Patton, jr.
- Carlos N. Hathcock II
- John Buford

Who are yours?

[GANJIRO]

My Dad, and Jesus

[Mich Hunter]

God
Grandfather
Father
Wife
Fred Bear
Sitting Bull

[505stevec]

Jesus
my Dad
Every Man who will not compromise his values but raise his family and do right.
Every man that stand against evil or corruption, no matter the cost.
Every volunteer soldier who is fighting terror in the world.

[Hillbilly]

Joshua Lawerence Chamberlain:

is one of the most un-heralded men in US history and one of the finest

I like your list
Jeff

[KT-45]

In his autobiography Chamberlain described a Civil War incident where a bullet went (1) through his horse's neck (2) into Chamberlain's chest (3) glanced off of a "personals" kit in his breast pocket (4) zipped around his body under his jacket and (5) exited through the back of his jacket. The horse went down. When Chamberlain's aide came upon him there was his commander, on the ground, blood all over the place, and what looked like a through-and-through bullet wound. The aide cried, "My Colonel! You're killed!"

Chamberlain picked himself up and, checking himself for holes, replied, "I don't think so."

[Doc Hudson]

Kt your list is long on Yankees and short on Confederates, but what can you expect from someone from Upstate New York? LOL

My heroes? Oddly enough I was giving thought to that very matter some little while back and started writing a rather lengthy article about the heroes we chose. So here is my abbreviated list of heroes.

Sir William Wallace
Spartacus
Robert the Bruce
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie
Sam Kenton
Leonidas, King of Sparta
Alexander the Great
Hannibal the Carthaginian
Daniel Morgan
Brian Boru
Vercingetorix
Harld Hardrada
Sam Dale
James Bonham Butler
Kit Carson
Robert Edward Lee
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
John S. Mosby
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Captain Leander McNalley, Texas Rangers
Billy Dixon
Captain Miles Keogh
Theodore Roosevelt
Captain Sam Woodfill
Alvin York
Audie Murphy, and not because of his acting
Little Turtle, war chief of the Miami
Count Felix von Luckner
Sir Francis Drake
Stephen Decatur
Admiral Raphael Semmes
Captain Owen ap Catesby Jones
Bill Jordan
Skeeter Skelton
That unknown young British Lieutenant who ordered his 20 Blackwatch troopers to fix bayonets and charge 200 Iraqi terrorists. Those wild Scots routed the terrorists in short order and with very light casualties to themselves.

I'd add Jim Taylor and Paco to the list but they'd accuse me of trying to butter them up for something, or get the big head.

[Doc Hudson]

Joshua Lawerence Chamberlain:

is one of the most un-heralded men in US history and one of the finest

I like your list
Jeff

I've no great regard for Chamberlin. One of his Maine troops put a bullet in my great-great grandpa's buttock. If it had not been for that danged stubborn Mainer, Gettysburg might have ended differently. Or at least my great-great grandpa might not have limped the rest of his life.

[Ysabel Kid]

Good list all - hard to top those, but I'd ad Alvin York and Audie Murphy.

[piller]

I must add Horatio, and Roland of Roncesvalles to the list. As for Horatio, any man who can singlehandedly hold off 5,000 men who are attempting to slice, dice, and julienne him is a real hero. Marine Pilot William Sells who shot down at least 17 Japanese planes in about 10 minutes while giving his fellow pilots time to scramble to stop the major attack on Seven Mile Drome, even though it cost him his life, deserves a place in the Hall of Heroes. Another Hero of mine is my Uncle Homer P. Casady who was awarded the Silver Star in WWII. He survived 7 major campaigns of WWII and lived nearly 50 years after that. Tom Custer, the real soldier of the family. Two times awarded Congressional Medal of Honor, and in two separate wars at that. And finally, Green Beret Roy Benavidez.

[KT-45]

Kt your list is long on Yankees and short on Confederates, but what can you expect from someone from Upstate New York? LOL

My heroes? Oddly enough I was giving thought to that very matter some little while back and started writing a rather lengthy article about the heroes we chose. So here is my abbreviated list of heroes.

Sir William Wallace
Spartacus
Robert the Bruce
Prince Charles Edward Stuart, Bonnie Prince Charlie
Sam Kenton
Leonidas, King of Sparta
Daniel Morgan
Brian Boru
Vercingetorix
Harld Hardrada
Sam Dale
James Bonham Butler
Kit Carson
Robert Edward Lee
Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson
John S. Mosby
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Captain Leander McNalley, Texas Rangers
Billy Dixon
Captain Miles Keogh
Theodore Roosevelt
Captain Sqm Woodfill
Alvin York
Audie Murphy, and not because of his acting
Little Turtle, war chief of the Miami
Count Felix von Luckner
Sir Francis Drake
Stephen Decatur
Admiral Raphael Semmes
Captain Owen ap Catesby Jones
Bill Jordan
Skeeter Skelton

I'd add Jim Taylor and Paco to the list but they'd accuse me of trying to butter them up for something, or get the big head.

I never said my list was all-inclusive, just the top 6.

I'd delete Billy Dixon (one lucky shot does not make a hero)

And Forrest would probably be in my top 15, just because he was probably the best cavalry officer America ever produced...well, maybe 2nd after Patton...and, yes, I know that Patton was technically Infantry but he had a cavalryman's attitude about war.

[Old Savage]

The archer who shot Harald Hardrada in the neck.

[Doc Hudson]

I'd delete Billy Dixon (one lucky shot does not make a hero)

You are correct that one lucky shot, which is what he called it himself, does not make a hero. Winning the Congressional Medal of Honor does. And Billy Dixon won the CMH for his actions during the Buffalo Wallow Fight not long after Adobe Walls.

[Paladin]

Very impressive lists all. I have never taken the time to compile a list as it would be rather large and full of people who most have never heard of having been lucky enough to live through some very trying times and locations.

[Doc Hudson]

Very impressive lists all. I have never taken the time to compile a list as it would be rather large and full of people who most have never heard of having been lucky enough to live through some very trying times and locations.

Hell man!!

You walk around with a bunch of HEROES every day, and in fact you are one yourself in my book. Just don't get carried away and go looking to earn a Congressional Medal of Honor, too many of those get handed to grieving widows.

[KT-45]

I'd delete Billy Dixon (one lucky shot does not make a hero)

You are correct that one lucky shot, which is what he called it himself, does not make a hero. Winning the Congressional Medal of Honor does. And Billy Dixon won the CMH for his actions during the Buffalo Wallow Fight not long after Adobe Walls.

I had been unaware of the Buffalo Wallow fight. I'm now up to speed.

I stand corrected.

Billy Dixon belongs on a "heroes" list.

[mescalero1]

Clarence Darrow
Charles Darwin
Evans Means ( who drove a 20 mule team ammunition wagon, in WWI)

[C. Cash]

In the human realm and in no particular order.....

Simon Peter
Paul
William Wallace
Winston Churchill
C. S. Lewis
George Washington
Robert E. Lee
Fighting Joe Wheeler
Heck Thomas
Frank Hamer
My Dad
My Grandfather William Moore
My Uncle John

[DixieBoy]

This if interesting. I'm reading Billy Dixon's book right now. He'd resisted
making a fuss over the events of his life, and was a truly modest guy. But
other folks convinced his wife to nudge him on this, and he finally consented
to relate the most well known events in detail, while she wrote.

Good thing, too. They'd only been at it for a few months when Dixon, who
claimed to have never been down sick a day in his life, suddenly fell ill, and
within a month he had passed away.

Billy Dixon makes my list too. - DixieBoy

[KT-45]

This if interesting. I'm reading Billy Dixon's book right now. He'd resisted
making a fuss over the events of his life, and was a truly modest guy. But
other folks convinced his wife to nudge him on this, and he finally consented
to relate the most well known events in detail, while she wrote.

Good thing, too. They'd only been at it for a few months when Dixon, who
claimed to have never been down sick a day in his life, suddenly fell ill, and
within a month he had passed away.

Billy Dixon makes my list too. - DixieBoy

That's another new piece of information on Billy Dixon I was unaware of.

I love the knowledge available on this forum.

Now, if somebody will ask about Eddie Rickenbacker or Joshua Lawerence Chamberlain, I can look smart!

[rjohns94]

Jesus
My Dad
those I served with in combat, on teams, individuals, dive buddy and others

I will limit my list only to those I know personally.

blessings

[airedaleman]

How about adding Don Juan of Lepanto to the Pantheon? Read G. K. Chesterton's poem...
And since we're fighting Islamic enemies, why not El Cid and James Puckle?

[Doc Hudson]

How about adding Don Juan of Lepanto to the Pantheon? Read G. K. Chesterton's poem...
And since we're fighting Islamic enemies, why not El Cid and James Puckle?

I can understand Don Juan de Lepanto, aka Don John of Austria, after all his victory at Lepanto saved Europe from Turkish domination, but why Puckle?

Is that the same Puckle who invented the revolving magazine gun back in the early 1700's?

[MistWolf]

My father
Superman

and I gotta say, Superman is nearly as cool as my Dad

[airedaleman]

How about adding Don Juan of Lepanto to the Pantheon? Read G. K. Chesterton's poem...
And since we're fighting Islamic enemies, why not El Cid and James Puckle?

I can understand Don Juan de Lepanto, aka Don John of Austria, after all his victory at Lepanto saved Europe from Turkish domination, but why Puckle?

Is that the same Puckle who invented the revolving magazine gun back in the early 1700's?

Doc, that is he!. If you'll recall, his patent drawing stipulated that his gun could "shoot round bullets at Christians, and square bullets at Turks."

[2571]

Goyathaly (Geronimo)
Dr. Ernesto Guevarra (Che)
David Crockett
Scipo africanus (defeated Hanibal)

[Bogie35]

Jesus, for giving me multiple chances
my pastor, Richard, for saving my life
my mother, for lovingly doing the difficult things in life
a little girl named Carley, for having the courage and toughness of 10,000 U.S. Marines...... for over 1,440 consecutive days now... and counting
Sitting Bull
Walter Payton
Abraham Lincoln
Ronald Reagan
Old Yeller
Pocahontas
Ozzie Smith
Teddy Roosevelt
accountant Charles Ulrich, for standing up to the IRS...... and winning
Sheriff Andy Griffith (fictitious, but a hero nonetheless)
Alvin York
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Martin Luther King, Jr.
Josey Wales (fictitious, but a hero nonetheless)
my grandmother and grandfather, for raising my mother and her 9 siblings through the depression as poor Georgia sharecroppers
the person who will one day rip Bin Laden's heart out of his chest and shove it up his rear in the name of all the above!

Sincerely,
bogie

[piller]

Col. Yancey for his singlehanded defense of a hill in Korea against a full Brigade of North Korean Army should also be included. He lost his left hand from the heat of melting the 6 or 7 BAR's he had been left with. Portugee Phillips for his amazing ride to through a blizzard to save the garrison is a nominee for inclusion here, despite his having lived the life of a reprobate prior to that.

[KT-45]

the person who will one day rip Bin Laden's heart out of his chest and shove it up his rear in the name of all the above!

Sincerely,
bogie

I wholeheartedly agree!

That warrior will be the new #1 on my list!

[Doc Hudson]

How about adding Don Juan of Lepanto to the Pantheon? Read G. K. Chesterton's poem...
And since we're fighting Islamic enemies, why not El Cid and James Puckle?

I can understand Don Juan de Lepanto, aka Don John of Austria, after all his victory at Lepanto saved Europe from Turkish domination, but why Puckle?

Is that the same Puckle who invented the revolving magazine gun back in the early 1700's?

Doc, that is he!. If you'll recall, his patent drawing stipulated that his gun could "shoot round bullets at Christians, and square bullets at Turks."

I also heard that his guns had a disconcerting tendency to blow up when fired.

Believe it or not, Thad Scott's Fine Guns in Indianola has, or had, a reproduction Puckle Gun on display in the store. I don't know if they still have it or if it has been sold. Mr. Scott told me that it had never been fired, and that some other reproductions he knew about had blown up when fired.

If we are going to honor Puckle, I guess we ought to add Major Patrick Ferguson to the list since he invented the first really effective breech-loading infantry rifle back in the 1770's.

[mescalero1]

Thank you 2571,
I am forbidden by custom to speak his name

[KT-45]

Goyathaly (Geronimo)
Dr. Ernesto Guevarra (Che)
David Crockett
Scipo africanus (defeated Hanibal)

Che Guevarra? Really? How do you figure?

[rock-steady]

Daniel Boone
General Nathan Bedford Forrest
Teddy Roosevelt
Winston Churchill
Ronald Reagan

I'd ride the river with any of the above...

[airedaleman]

Hey, 2571! I think you missed William Kunstler, no?

[preventec47]

General George Patton qualified and became a finalisi and was a
contestant at the 1914 Olympics for the USA and competed in
the Pentatholon or Pentathon however you say it.

Maybe that is why he would force march his troops 85 miles in a day

Scott

[Old Ironsights]

Michael Servetus
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Paine
Benjamin Franklin
Samuel Adams
The Marquis de Lafayette
The Anti-Federalists in general.
(Saint) John Browning
Sgt. Alvin York
Robert A. Heinlein
L. Neil Smith

[gamekeeper]

Lord Horatio Nelson
John Colter
Robert E Lee
Sitting Bull
Sir Winston Churchill.

[piller]

Was Jim Bridger listed here? If so I missed him. Ira Hayes also deserves to be listed here, and he deserved much better than what he received at home after the War.

[piller]

Joe Foss has also been left out. Perhaps we should just say that anyone who is Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor should be here. Please don't say earned or given when referring to this honor. It is not ever earned or given, but bestowed upon the recipient for conspicuous gallantry in action when in battle. It is not to be awarded lightly, and so please use the correct term of Awarded to show the award the respect it deserves. Those who were in any branch (Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Coast Guard) know this.