RUTHFULLY YOURS

https://patriotpost.us/alexander/70801-what-hero-really-means-2020-05-20

EXCERPT:

What ‘Hero’ Really Means “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Mark Alexander

In my capacity as a board member of the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, I’ve been privileged to meet many members of our nation’s most exclusive fraternity — those military personnel whose courage under the most extreme of circumstances has earned them our nation’s highest military award for valor.

Not one of those Medal of Honor recipients would describe their actions as “heroic,” but simply being in a place and time that required something extraordinary of them. To a man, they are then quick to say that most others would have done the same if they’d been in the recipient’s boots.

This week, falling as it does between Armed Forces Day and the upcoming observance of Memorial Day, allow me to express my frame of reference for the meaning of “hero” by telling you about one American.

Last Thursday, I received word from a mutual friend that Staff Sgt. Ronald J. Shurer II had died after a three-year battle with cancer.

In 2008, at the age of 29, Ron was a Senior Medical Sergeant in Special Forces Operational Detachment Alpha 3336, Special Operations Task Force-33, in support of Operation Enduring Freedom during the battle of Shok Valley, Afghanistan. He was an ordinary man who faced extraordinary circumstances and summoned the courage to repeatedly run through enemy fire to provide medical care to his brothers in arms. Despite being wounded himself, he tended to four critically wounded soldiers and 10 injured commandos, then helped evacuate many wounded through fields of fire to waiting medevac helicopters.

In recognition of his actions, Ron Shurer was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Donald Trump on 1 October 2018, having exhibited all the fundamental character traits associated with that singular award: Courage, Commitment, Citizenship, Sacrifice, Integrity, and Patriotism. To read and contemplate his citation is to understand what “hero” really means.

Typical of such warriors was Ron’s comment about receiving the recognition for his service: “This award is not mine. This award wouldn’t exist without the team. If they weren’t doing their job, I wouldn’t have been able to do my job.”

Last month, on 6 April, the 12th anniversary of the battle of Shok Valley, Ron wrote, “When we started working our way up that mountain, we didn’t expect the fight we would face … but neither did they.”

Dillon Behr, one of the men Ron saved that brutal day, wrote: “Without Ron Shurer at my side, I would have died that day. No question. His presence gave me the confidence to know I could make it. There’s a good chance if he would have been critically injured or killed on the battlefield … we all might have died out there.”

Ron left military service in 2009, becoming a Secret Service agent and eventually serving on a team defending the president.

He was the son of career Air Force parents Ronald and Fabiola Shurer, and at the tragically young age of 41 he leaves behind his wife, Miranda, two sons, Tyler and Cameron, and his extended family.

Fellow Medal of Honor recipient Flo Groberg said of Ron: “He was an inspiration to me. He never let cancer take away his smile and his mission to support our community. We all know about his military exploits, but it was the husband, the father, and the friend that made Ron unique. He never showed his pain — only his love and strength. … He was the ultimate friend, and the best teammate that you could ever ask for. … God Speed, my friend.”

In a nation of some 330 million people, after Ron’s departure, only 69 Medal of Honor recipients survive today.

Ron was a genuine hero — one who demonstrated the humility that always attends authentic acts of heroism. He was a man of faith, and he lived these Gospel words: “Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.”

(For more information on how to support the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, please contact the Patriot Foundation Trust Administrator. You can make a designated gift online to support the Heritage Center Sustaining Fund or make a check payable to Patriot Foundation Trust (noting MoHHC on the memo line) and mail to Patriot Foundation Trust, PO Box 407, Chattanooga, TN 37401-0407.)

Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis
Pro Deo et Libertate — 1776

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