Jacob's Blog: Veterans Day Essay

Jacob Promenschenkel

When we think of heroes we might think of Superman. We might think of Batman. But the true heroes, the ones that don’t come out about how much they saved, the ones that don’t get as much recognition as they should, the ones that give up their time and lives for their country, veterans. We consider Veterans heroes because of the hardships that they have faced and the freedom they given up protecting us and our families.

Donald M Nichols. Don’s name and his story has been on my mind a lot recently. He gave so much up for his country. He didn’t die at war, but for 4 years America had no clue where he was. During World War 2 Don was taken as a POW (Prisoner of War). Don participated in the Bataan Death March and escaped. Twice, he was then taken to a Japanese internment camp and beaten severely. He also made a friend in there who saved his life. He said in his book “You Can’t Conquer Them” that he was beaten so badly one time that he was unconscious for over 7 days, and then someone by the name of Nick Moga rescued him and took him back to the barracks where he was nursed back to health.

When Don finally came back into consciousness, he was blind because of a massive head trauma. Sometimes when you get massive trauma to the head, it increases pressure in the skull which in turn puts pressure on the optic nerve. His vision did come back.

When Don got home, he told my dad many things that he couldn’t put in the book because they were to graphic. Like one time he and his friend broke into a supply shack and got caught. They were then forced to hold melons over their heads for hours. Every time that their hands went below their heads, they were stabbed in the back with a bayonet. Not enough to kill them, but deep enough for it to hit the back of their ribs.

When Don got back home, he had to have a spine fusion because his spine was so badly decayed from all the diseases he got overseas. A spine fusion is when they fuse the vertebrae in your spine together to make it stronger. After you do it though you spine can’t turn freely.

Although I never met Don, I was told that he was a very funny man that I would’ve like very much. Just reading the first chapter of his book it is apparent that it is true, I would’ve liked him. Don was born April 1^st, 1946 and died August 15^th, 2002.

I think that we should honor veterans because they give up so much to fight for us. It doesn’t matter the age, height, shape, weight, color, race or anything at all. They are veterans and they did give up their time and freedom just so we had ours. If it were not for veterans, then we would not be here today. If it were not for the brave men and women risking their lives to protect us than we would never be here. I am so thankful for the veterans of America and what they are doing to protect this country. Many others are just as thankful as I am and maybe a little more. Veterans may say that they are not heroes and they may be very humble. But we all know that they are the heroes that America needs. We all also know that heroes don’t always wear capes.