Tuesday Editorial: Decades later, a Vietnam War hero's story remains stirring

There occasionally are news events so positive, so inspiring that they make you shake your head in wonder.

Outside the world of tweets, news conferences and photo ops, occasional White House events celebrate the best among us, true heroes.

The person in the spotlight is the winner of the nation’s highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, given for bravery on the battlefield.

The recipients usually are humble, preferring to deflect the glory to those who had given their lives or to other members of their units.

Such an occasion recently occurred with the belated honor going to retired Army combat medic Sgt. Gary Michael Rose.

He was honored for his service during Vietnam, especially a four-day period in September 1970.

Rose helped save the lives of at least 60 wounded soldiers.

The specifics of his bravery are so incredible they could be the grist for a movie.

Rose was the only medic for 136 men when they set out on one of the biggest missions of the war, Operation Tailwind.

According to prepared material from the White House, the goal was to impede the North Vietnamese from using the Ho Chi Minh trail.

As soon as helicopters touched the ground, the unit began receiving fire.

Rose rushed to the middle of a clearing to minister to a wounded soldier, shielding the man with his body, then carrying him to safety.

That was just the start. A similar incident occurred on the second day when “Mike raced to the side of the soldier, exposing himself to constant fire. As bullets flew in every direction, he fired at the enemy with one arm while dragging the injured soldier back to the perimeter with the other,” said President Donald Trump during the White House ceremony.

Rose had to continuously put himself in harm’s way to treat wounded soldiers.

For the last two days of the battle, Rose was treating soldiers while being injured himself. Shrapnel left a hole in his foot, so he used a branch for a crutch and continued treating the wounded.

He didn’t eat, sleep or care for his own wound.

Finally, after the unit was being removed with helicopters, Rose was in the last helicopter to leave.

“If you don’t believe in God,” Rose said, “then you should have been with us that day. And I can tell you, it’ll make a believer out of you because we should not ever have survived.”

But the helicopter ride wasn’t the end.

Bullets struck a Marine door gunner in the throat, so Rose treated him. Then the helicopter crashed. He was thrown from the copter and rushed back to pull soldiers from the blazing wreckage.

By the time they returned to base, Rose was covered in blood. He refused treatment until everyone else had been cared for.

Earlier this year, Rose learned that the Marine gunner survived and lived a long and full life.

At age 70 in Huntsville, Ala., Rose continues to help people. He volunteers with the American Legion and the Knights of Columbus, helps at a soup kitchen and helps elderly and disabled neighbors.

Rose made a brief appearance outside the White House, said he considered his honor one for the entire unit, took no questions and humbly walked away.

It’s typical of good people like Rose that they shun the acclaim. It’s important that the rest of us recognize their courageous deeds.

EX-PRESIDENTS IN ACTION

It has to be unique, the fact that the United States now has five living ex-presidents.

The five of them, despite their political differences, have a unique bond. They join together in good causes occasionally.

One example is their call for unity and donations for hurricane victims.

The five presidents made a rare joint appearance at the “Deep from the Heart” concert in College Station, Texas, to raise money for victims of recent natural disasters.

Waving to the crowd were former Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

As reported in The Washington Post, the U.S. and its territories have been hit with hurricanes and wildfires that have killed more than 100 people and cost billions of dollars in damages.

“The American people have done what we do best,” said President Trump.

“We came together. We helped one another and through it all we became resilient.”

Trump noted how the five living ex-presidents were “playing a tremendous role in helping our fellow citizens recover. … This wonderful effort reminds us that we truly are one nation under God, all unified by our values and our devotion to one another.”