Carlos Hathcock

Carlos Hathcock

A hero is someone who has done something worth recognition, someone who has used such qualities that have earned the title hero. A hero is anyone a boy or a girl, a mom or dad someone who has done something that has effected your life for the rest of your life. Remember a hero can be anyone, anywhere.

A year ago I got a book about a Vietnam Hero. This book was about Carlos Hathcock. At first I though that it was a usual war book just about killing and fighting when it was much more. I discovered that Carlos was a hero and how he was a hero.

One reason that he is considered a hero is that the man decided to place all other lives of his fellow marines before his own. That day in Vietnam when a 500 lb box mine was exploded underneath the Amtrac he was riding on, Staff Sergeant Hathcock didn't free himself and worry about saving his own life. Sgt Hathcock despite his burns and injuries proceeded to save the other marines onboard from the flaming Amtrac. To him this wasn't an act of heroics it was simply what Marines did. He also participated in many world shooting tournaments, and almost always won.

I think the best way to describe his heroicness is that he was a hero on the spot. When he was riding that Amtrac he didn’t know that a 500 lb. mine was going to explode. After the mine exploded he got up and marine after marine pulling them out of the Amtrac that was on fire. He was a “hero on the spot,” and is an amazing example of courage and heroism, and that is why I think he is a hero on spot. He is a hero on the spot, I got this type of hero from the book “A hero’s Trail”, a hero on the spot is a person who does something heroic when he or she is not expecting it and has had no time to plan for it.

Those are some of the reasons that I think Carlos Hathcock is an extraordinary hero who is a great example of the true American hero. A hero is someone who has done something worth recognizing, someone who has used such qualities that have earned the title "hero." A hero is someone like Carlos Hathcock.