Heroes

•April 23, 2025•

by Janet Roney

When the radio said the Columbia Space Shuttle was past due, I knew that Willie McCool, the co-captain of the mission, and all his crew had been lost. In annual Christmas letters from his mother, my college friend, we followed Willie’s career…the Naval Academy, Navy pilot, astronaut, the Columbia. 

What drove Willie, the little blonde-haired boy we once knew, to devote his life and risk everything for one hurtling ride into the dangerous unknown? …And what sent those 9/11 firemen up into those burning towers? ...Or what led Lovington’s Buddy to a Silver Star for his Vietnam War bravery? What makes heroes do what they do? Often they respond, “I just did what I had to do!” 

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