My Great-Grandfather Ernie

My Great-grandpa Ernie

Inspiring, altruistic, courageous in a dangerous situation, brave, hard-working, to me that is what a hero really is. A hero is someone who is looked up to by other people because of something amazing he has done. It is someone who is determined and altruistic. It is someone who will risk things for other people and will work very hard. A hero can be anyone. Most heroes are ordinary people who have done something spectacular to help others. That is why my great-grandpa Ernie is my hero.

My great-grandpa Ernie was a very special person. He lived from 1908 until 1995. Ernie was born in Israel, moved to Australia, lived in England and then he finally moved to Montreal. He was married to my great-grandma Esther and they had three daughters, the youngest being my grandma. My great-grandpa Ernie fought in World War 2. He was a soldier who shot down German airplanes. After the war, he moved to Montreal where he continued working very hard as a furrier making fur coats. After many years of his job as a furrier, a terrible thing happened. There was a big fire in the factory that my great-grandfather was working in. He was able to escape safely, but then he realized that his boss was still trapped inside. Without considering the consequences, he ran back inside the burning building to save his boss’s life. Fortunately, Ernie saved the life of his boss, but sadly, it meant losing his sense of hearing. Ernie continued to live with the same altruistic qualities even being deaf. He was very kind to me as a little girl before he passed away. He loved me as a baby and always gave me candies and presents. Ernie was a hero not only in my eyes, but also in the eyes of the rest of my family as well as his boss, whose life he had saved.

My great-grandpa Ernie is important to me because he was so determined. His acts of heroism inspire me to go out there and take action. He was just an ordinary person, but he was a very brave, altruistic person. He was a very special person to many people. Even just a year before he passed away, he was deaf and very ill, but he was the same caring person he always had been. He cared about everyone and was always willing to help. My great-grandpa Ernie was an inspiring, altruistic, magnanimous person and that is why my great-grandpa Ernie is my hero.