A Real American Hero

An American Hero

Jason stepped into the courtyard of the municipal building holding Janet’s hand, his wife of ten years. A young girl approached, staring at his right foot. “What happened to your foot?” she asked politely.

He lifted his good foot and wiggled it around. “No, the fake foot,” she pointed.

“It’s not an illusion,” he spoke softly.

“He doesn’t want to talk about it,” her father barked at her. The two men exchanged a quiet nod. His was apologetic, and Jason was grateful. In the moment, they both understood the bond of the uniform.

Mayor Tyson greeted Jason. “No uniform?” he asked.

“It doesn’t fit anymore,” came out curtly.

“I would have had it tailored if you let me know earlier.” Then showed Jason to his seat just off to the side of the trailer set up as a makeshift stage. The Memorial Day presentation began with an invocation by the Baptist minister. Mr. Jenkins, a retired Marine from Vietnam, read the names of every person from the town who lost their lives serving our nation. There was one name from the Civil War, several from WWI, a few more from WWII, and the list grew from there.

The next speaker took the mic, “My name is Colonel Grant. My sole responsibility today is to introduce the next speaker. I served with him in Afghanistan. He is a real American Hero. Our post was overrun by insurgents, where he was injured, but he managed to save the lives of two men before moving to help secure the north wall from attack. He lost his lower leg due to shrapnel shredding his ankle. He received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions that day. Please, give a cheer for Jason Dixon, a true American hero.”

Jason limped onto stage. His prosthetic felt heavier than ever before. He pulled the prepared speech out of his jacket pocket and smoothed it on the podium. Both hands gripped the sides of the podium, making his knuckles turn white.

The audience of two hundred people quieted as he prepared to speak. Jason stared at the words provided by Tyson’s office. He reviewed the short intro followed by three largely irrelevant paragraphs. He started, “Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.”

The hollow words stuck in his throat. Then, barely audible, “I can’t read this, not here, not on this day. Colonel Grant should have known better than to honor the living on a day set aside for those who lost their lives.”

He looked at Grant and Tyson. Grant looked sorrowful while Tyson possessed a disappointed look that it wasn’t going as planned. Then Jason examined the speech in front of him before talking to the paper, “I am not a hero. I was a twenty-year-old boy learning to become a man. I did what I had to do to survive. The true American heroes never came home. They lost their lives on a hot summer day adjacent to a desert. Lieutenant Thomas Kahill, Machine Gun Tommy as we called him. That man could rebuild any engine faster than the people who built it the first time. Corporal Kalvin Walters could diagnose any electrical issues simply by listening to the engine. Then there was Sergeant Deonte’ Rice, who we kidded about being related to Jerry Rice because he caught more mistakes than Jerry Rice had touchdowns.” There was a pause in his monotone monologue.

“Rice was a true master mechanic.” He started again slowly. “He knew every truck stem to stern, and top to bottom. Where other sergeants refused to get their hands dirty, Rice stepped in and helped every chance he got. He loved his vehicles almost as much as he loved his men.”

Another stretch of silence as the next words came to him. “The initial blasts from the mortar rounds collapsed their side of the building. If the blast didn’t kill them, then the fireball from the oil and gas containers did. There was no saving these heroes, for they were already gone. Our motor pool was a close-knit group of mechanics trying to survive the war. We felt safe because we never left the camp. The war came to us that fateful day.”

Jason's eyes welled up as the memories pierced his heart as if they had happened yesterday, not twenty years ago. Then he stuttered, “I am not the hero for losing my foot. They are the heroes for not coming back.” Jason swallowed a lump in his throat and finished, “The real American heroes are the wife and child Sgt. Rice left behind.” He paused again before stating slowly, “They had to keep going without their husband and father.”

The audience stood as quiet as Jason tried to compose himself. Many women silently held back sobs, seeing the broken man at the podium. Several men’s eyes watered as if from an instant hay fever attack. After a minute, Janet stepped up on stage. She pried his fingers off the podium and led him away. Mayor Tyson took the mic and announced, “That wasn’t the Memorial speech I wanted, but it was the one I needed.”

Marlene Thamas, city Treasurer, called out, “Follow me.” She led Jason and Janet to her office. The Colonel and a young black man trailed behind. They watched from the hall as Jason sat down. His hands were clenched and his shoulders hunched over his chest. At first glance, it looked like anger, but Colonel Grant knew it was a twenty-year-old wound reopened in public.

Grant stepped into the office when his hands unclenched. A silent pain hung between the men before Jason looked up and said, “What’s up, Capt. Nube.”

The quiet of the room lingered for a moment more before the colonel replied, “It wasn’t my idea to come here and celebrate you on Memorial Day. General Prescott thought it would be good PR for the Army if I came. He didn’t order me to come, but if he has to order a colonel under his command, they don’t stick around very long.”

Jason gave a quaint smile of acknowledgment over his description. Grant Continued, “My mistake was to become the adopted baby brother to the motor pool brotherhood. All of you took me in, showed me what it took to keep the place going. All the while, you befriended me. You even took the time to show me how to change the wheels on a truck. You laughed at my ineptitude but encouraged me to finish the job. Rice joked it only took me twice as long to change the one tire.”

Jason looked up at Grant and asked, “Capt. Nube, learning to change a tire was a mistake?”

“No, allowing myself to become part of your tight-knit family was. I lost three in my command that day. It ripped my heart out to write the reports on what happened. I made sure to keep my distance from my soldiers after that. I lost others in different missions, but none tore my heart like the first. The way you guys took me in only worsened the pain.”

There was a moment of shared pain between the two old combatants. The young black man entered the room and broke the silence by saying, “I hated you for twenty years!” while staring at Jason.

Jason looked back at him as if to say, “I hated myself for twenty years.” A tear ran down his face. “My name is Tyrone Rice. Sergeant Rice was my father. Mom passed away a week ago from breast cancer. Before she died, she had me find a file she kept on you. You wrote her a letter while recovering and learning how to walk with a pegleg, as your letter put it. You told Mom what my dad meant to you, how he served his country with distinction, how he cared for the men under his authority. He mostly talked about his loving family back home. She never wrote back to you.”

Jason nodded to remember the letter, and Tyrone continued, “I heard your hometown, not twenty minutes from me, was honoring you this day. Mom made me promise to seek you out and talk to you about Dad. I was torn by my burning anger and the letter you sent describing your relationship with Dad. Then I saw you on that trailer with your heart breaking after twenty years. I heard for the first time you couldn’t save him.”

Grant spoke up, “It took two days to recover your dad’s body. The Army brought a crane in from another base to reach him. A several-ton steel beam fell on him, pinning him down.”

The ache from the three men’s hearts filled the room with stillness. A minute passed, then another. After a third minute of no one saying anything, Tyrone asked, “It was you that suggested me to the Ford dealership’s repair shop to hire me as an apprentice, wasn’t it?”

Jason nodded.

“An old Army buddy?”

“No,” Jason looked Tyrone in the eyes. “We graduated high school together.”

Then Tyrone turned to Grant and asked, “Why does he call you captain while you are a colonel?”

A smile broke over Grant’s face. “Jason was the class clown. In fact, his nickname was Clown. He came up with everyone's nickname. He was the first to see the resemblance between your father and Jerry Rice. I was new to the camp and tried setting my authority. I tried to get Jason to salute me, and he told me to go get them sandwiches.”

Grant paused for a second. “Oh, Nube is short for new person.”

Jason gave a real smile for the first time that day.

“Your father pulled me into his office and told me that they do not have time to salute while in the barn. I called Major Davenport to help me out and then watched him walk through the building without a single salute or acknowledgment from any of the mechanics. The Major pointed out that these men have been working since four in the morning. He called out, ‘Hey, Clown, when did you last eat?’ O-six hundred was the returned called out.”

A smirk crossed Jason’s face.

“Davenport asked me where I served before. He knew but reminded me that it was an office in the Pentagon where we worked Monday through Friday, eight to five. He explained that in this camp, soldiers might work a twenty-hour shift. For safety and cohesion, there is no saluting except during formal meetings between officers and enlisted members. You take care of your soldiers, and they will make your life easy. Rule over them, and you won’t make it in the field. It took a second, then I said I am going after sandwiches. Clown yelled out, they know what we like, as the wrench turned in his hand.”

The half smile on Tyrone’s face faded, and he asked, “You really did love Dad?”

“We were not just brothers in arms, but in wrenches and in life. He hoped by serving in the war, you wouldn’t have to.”

That thought sat heavy in the small office for thirty seconds, and then Tyrone uttered, “You are a hero.”

Jason studied the young man and then shook his head. Tyrone continued, “The way I see it, you are a hero by your own definition of the word. You claimed that Mom and I are real American heroes for living without my father. Well, you have lived without him for twenty years. You kept his memory alive by pouring your heart out to the community. You stood before the world and relived the painful moment you lost my dad, your friend, and your brother in every sense of the word. And Colonel, so are you.”

The three men stood in silence, not pain-free, but a little more healed than when they woke that morning. There were no smiles or hugs, just a quiet reckoning between them.

Mayor Tyson burst into the room declaring, “That was one Memorial Day celebration that won’t be forgotten. The Baptist church is holding a picnic; please come.” He looked at the young black man and asked, “Who are you?”

“Tyrone Rice. Jason is my uncle.”

It took a second, and then Tyson understood the tension in the room. “Of course, there is a place at the table for a hero like you.”