The Person Who Was a True Definition of A Hero

Stained clothes scattered throughout the messy room, no light found anywhere, questions being asked repetitively- this is what I remember about my great grandfather. Apparently, from the stories I have heard, he was a whole lot more. He was the epitome of a God- loving, WWII veteran who would do incredible things- from taking pictures of the enemy from a flying piece of metal to escaping a nursing home. From what my family has said, he could brighten up the darkest room, work harder than anyone, and was not afraid of anything.  He is the true definition of heroism in the eyes of all who knew him.

Wallace Fuller, my great grandfather, had the unique ability that only comes to very few people -- being able to brighten the room. He was always able to make anyone laugh; either by a joke or just having a good old conversation. My mom said he was the wittiest person ever. One of his most famous jokes was,”Why did the Elephant paint his toenails different colors? To hide in the jelly bean jar!” Whenever he started talking, people gathered around to hear his story.  He always wanted to meet new people and always remembered their names...until Alzheimer's hit him like a speeding bullet. He hated being alone and was usually found among the chattering of old people at his nursing home. From sunup to sundown, he was always with people, either playing chess or bragging about his grandchildren. He talked so much when I first met him, I thought we would never leave the nursing home! He was like a jukebox- when you insert your coin, you’ve got to listen to the song until it finishes; in this case, that song was very long. One characteristic of heroism my great grandfather possessed was being able to brighten any room.

Another attribute of Heroism my great grandfather possessed was that he was a hard worker. At age 19 he left his family to go to Oklahoma City to work for the National Biscuit Company (or today Nabisco). After going to fight for our country in WWII, he came back to his home in Enid and married the love of his life, Dorothy Fuller. In Enid, he worked at Cliff’s Camera Shop for 33 years until retiring in 1984. After a few years of retirement, he decided to start working again. He left the relaxation of retirement and opened Wally’s Darkroom. In his darkroom, he  developed pictures- he even developed a picture of my sister and me as infants. After fully retiring, he found a new hobby… keeping his yard so clean, that in the middle of fall, no leaves touched his yard for a more than a day. To go along with that, my second cousin Rebecca wrote a report about him. It said that he had the cleanest and tidiest yard on the street. Aside from how hard he worked in his job and in his yard, he worked just as hard spiritually. He loved the Lord and was always at church every single Sunday in the same place. Also whenever he met someone, he worked towards a good enough relationship in order to ask them to church!  I once saw a sign that said, “Do what you love, and you will never work a day in your life.” This sign reminded me of my great grandfather, because he loved working with cameras and for the ministry of his Lord. Working hard physically and spiritually is a really important attribute for being a hero and my PawPaw Wally worked harder than anyone.

The final attribute that my great grandfather had was being a fearless warrior.  He went to war in 1946 and flew in the belly of B-24 Liberators and took pictures of the enemy from the plane. It was extremely hard to be a photographer in a plane. The reason that his job is so hard is because they had to reach down his shirt and into a bag to grab film to capture pictures of the enemy. Along with that, he was also a waist gunner if his plane was under heavy enemy fire. His almost got shot down on a mission but, luckily, they managed to make it back to their base. Once he returned home, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross medal for his heroism in the air. Not only was he fearless for his country, he was fearless in his everyday life. He always opened the door for his wife, in public and in their garage. She would always fuss at him saying, ”Don't do that Wallace! Where in our garage!” Still, that didn't stop him. He always helped his neighbor, who was a widow, by taking her trash down and every single morning dark or light, cold or warm, he got her newspaper and took it to her front porch. Another act of service that he was commendable for was shoveling off people's driveways when the ice and snow rained down on the state of Oklahoma. My great grandfather was not only fearless for his country, he was fearless for his community and did not care what other people thought about him.

My great grandfather was a WWII veteran that could brighten any room, work harder than anyone, and was the most fearless person. The reason I chose him as my hero is because he was a great dad, grandfather and was in the hospital room as I was born into this world. He inspired me to be a warrior in real life and with God. He was a great influence to my family and was the perfect person for this essay. My great grandfather, Wallace Leslie Fuller, was a true American hero who loved the Lord, and was a good Samaritan in his community. My grandfather was a true replica of what heroism is.