Compassionate Soldier: Remarkable True Stories of Mercy, Heroism, and Honor from the Battlefield
Compassionate Soldier: Remarkable True Stories of Mercy, Heroism, and Honor from the Battlefield
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Overview
Compassionate Soldier illuminates fascinating yet largely unknown stories of men and women whose humanity led them to perform courageous acts of mercy and compassion amid the chaos and carnage of war. Arranged by war from the American Revolution to the Iraq War and global in perspective, it features extraordinary stories of grace under fire from valiant soldiers and noncombatants who rose above the inhumanity of lethal conflict and chose compassion, even knowing their actions could put their lives and liberty at risk.
Included are the stories of Patrick Ferguson, a British officer during the American Revolution who had the chance to kill George Washington but refused to shoot a man in the back; Richard Kirkland, a Confederate soldier during the Civil War who took water to wounded Union soldiers during the battle of Fredericksburg; and Oswald Boelcke, a German WWI flying ace who was one of the most influential tacticians of early air combat and was known for making sure the airmen he shot down made it to the ground alive.
These and other inspirational stories illustrate that even in the midst of the unspeakable horrors of war, acts of kindness, mercy, compassion, and humanity can prevail and, in doing so, expand our conventional thinking of honor and battlefield glory.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781629735191 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Deseret Book Company |
| Publication date: | 05/02/2017 |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| File size: | 1 MB |
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Read an Excerpt
Excerpt from Chapter 1 At the height of the battle more than five thousand injured Union soldiers lay in heaps among the dead, where they were left to suffer from their wounds and from the December cold. On Saturday evening, the Union soldiers crouching behind their lines listened in distress to the terrible sounds of suffering coming from the battlefield. A few ventured out under of cover of darkness to offer comfort. For example, Lieutenant Colonel Joshua Chamberlain of the Twentieth Maine recalled that he and a comrade had to spend most of the night lying between two dead soldiers to try to stay warm. When the cries of suffering overwhelmed them, he and his friend left the relative safety of their position to offer aid: "We did what we could, but how little it was on a field so boundless for feeble human reach! Our best was to search the canteens of the dead for a draft of water for the dying; or to ease the posture of a broken limb; or to compress a severed artery of fast-ebbing life that might perhaps so be saved, with what little skill we had been taught by our surgeons early in learning the tactics of saving as well as of destroying men." As Sunday morning dawned cold and foggy, the agonized cries of the wounded were even more desperate than before. Watching from behind the rock wall, Confederate Sergeant Richard Kirkland of the 2nd South Carolina Volunteers listened to these cries for help with increasing anxiety. Finally, he could stand it no longer. Here is the firsthand account that General J.B. Kershaw of the Confederate Army wrote about it later, in the Charleston News & Courier. He speaks of himself in the third-person voice as "the General": "All day those wounded men rent the air with their groans and agonizing cries of "Water! Water!" In the afternoon the General sat in the north room, upstairs, of Mrs. Stevens house, in front of the road, surveying the field, when Kirkland came up. With an expression of indignant remonstrance pervading his person, his manner and the tone of his voice, he said: "General! I can't stand this." "What is the matter, Sergeant?" asked the General. He replied, "All night and all day I have heard those poor people crying for water, and I can stand it no longer. I come to ask permission to go and give them water." The General regarded him for a moment with feelings of profound admiration, and said: "Kirkland, don't you know that you would get a bullet through your head the moment you stepped over the wall?" "Yes, sir," he said, "I know that; but if you will let me, I am willing to try it." After a pause, the General said, "Kirkland, I ought not to allow you to run a risk, but the sentiment which actuates you is so noble that I will not refuse your request, trusting that God may protect you. You may go." The Sergeant's eye lighted up with pleasure. He said, "Thank you, sir," and ran rapidly down stairs. . . . With profound anxiety he [the General] watched as he stepped over the wall on his errand of mercy-Christ-like mercy. Unharmed he reached the nearest sufferer. He knelt beside him, tenderly raised the drooping head, rested it gently upon his own noble breast, and poured the precious life-giving fluid down the fever scorched throat. This done, he laid him tenderly down, placed his knapsack under his head, straightened out his broken limb, spread his overcoat over him, replaced his empty canteen with a full one, and turned to another sufferer. By this time his purpose was well understood on both sides, and all danger was over. From all parts of the field arose fresh cries of "Water, water; for God's sake, water!" More piteous still the mute appeal of some who could only feebly lift a hand to say, here, too, is life and suffering. For an hour and a half did this ministering angel pursue his labor of mercy, nor ceased to go and return until he relieved all the wounded on that part of the field. He returned to his post wholly unhurt. Who shall say how sweet his rest that winter's night beneath the cold stars!" There were many accounts given of Private Kirkland's bravery that day, both Union and Confederate. They indicate that when this young man, in his early twenties, first climbed up onto the outer wall with as many canteens of water slung over his shoulder as he could carry, the Union soldiers were so startled that they paused in their firing. When they realized what he was doing the entire battlefield fell silent. Then a spontaneous shout of encouragement erupted on both sides of the line as both Rebel and Union soldiers cheered him on. Kirkland seemed not to notice. He was focused entirely on his mission of mercy. When Kirkland's first group of canteens was empty, he disappeared back over the stone wall and firing resumed on both sides. But when he stuck his head up a second time, the battlefield again went quiet while he came out to another group of wounded. This pattern continued for more than an hour and a half until virtually all the wounded were cared for. For one small moment, the suffering of the injured had been relieved.
Table of Contents
Compassion on the Battlefield THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Captain Ferguson and General Washington THE CIVIL WAR An Angel at the Battle of Fredericksburg-Richard Kirkland WORLD WAR I Edith Wharton: A Season of Mercy Oswald Boelcke-German Ace in World War I The Kaiser and Robert Campbell Edith Cavell: The Ultimate Sacrifice WORLD WAR I & WORLD WAR II Rosenau and Lurye WORLD WAR II Nineteen Days in Paris Rudolf Wobbe-Saved by a Nazi Prison Guard Saving Enemy Civilians and Soldiers in the Pacific War-Robert Sheeks VIETNAM WAR Fire Is Falling from Heaven-Kim Phuc Bernie Fisher-Valor in Vietnam Tribute chapters Justice for the USS Indianapolis-Hunter Scott - WWII Humanized in Iraq-Shawn McKinnon-Middle East conflict The Happy Factory-Charles & Donna Cooley-Middle East Conflict Stories by War: Revolutionary War: 1 Civil War: 1 WWI: 5 WWII: 3 Vietnam: 2 Cold War: 1 Somalia: 1 Iraq War: 3Summary of Stories- Richard Kirkland-A Confederate soldier during the Civil War who disobeyed direct orders and brought blankets and water to the wounded from both North and South during the Battle of Fredericksburg.
- Oswald Boelcke-The German WWI flying ace was one of the most influential tacticians of early air combat, but was known for making sure the airmen he shot down made it to the ground alive.
- Kim Phuc-As a nine-year-old child, she was the focus of a Pulitzer Prize-winning photo taken during the Vietnam War. After her village had been napalmed, her life was saved by a photographer who not only captured the image, but went out of his way to take the badly burned girl to a hospital hundreds of miles away.
- Patrick Ferguson-A British solider during the American Revolution, he had the chance to kill a high-ranking American soldier, but refused to shoot a man in the back. That American soldier turned out to be George Washington.
- Edith Cavell-A British nurse who helped more than two hundred Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during WWI but was unable to escape herself when the Germans raided her hospital.
- Mr. Pape-German SS guard who stepped between an angry SS recruiter and a POW, saving the prisoner's life at great risk to his own.
- Major General Dietrich von Choltitz-A career German military officer and the last commander of Nazi-occupied Paris, who disobeyed Hitler's order to destroy the city and instead surrendered to French Free forces.
- Alex Lurye-A Jewish-American solider during WWI who was befriended by a Jewish family in Germany and, even though he was an enemy combatant, was invited to their home for a Sabbath meal. During WWII, Lurye saved the same family by helping them escape to America during the rise of Hitler's Nazi party.
- Colonel Bernard F. Fisher-The Air Force Medal of Honor, the military's highest decoration for valor, was awarded for the first time during the Vietnam War to Colonel Fisher, who risked his own life, fully aware of the extreme danger and high likelihood of failure, in order to save a downed airman who was under heavy fire and trapped behind enemy lines.
- Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany-During WWI, on nothing more than a promise, he allowed a captured British soldier to briefly return home to see his mother before she died.
- Robert Skeeks-Raised in Asia and schooled in America, Lieutenant Sheeks used his knowledge of the Japanese culture and language during WWII to save countless Japanese lives at great risk to his own.
- Edith Wharton-A Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist who worked on the battlefields of France during WWI assisting the Red Cross.
- Shawn McKinnon-United States Marine who served three deployments in the Middle Eastern conflicts and organized "Operation Eagle Scout Project" to help the children of Iraq obtain food, clothes, books, toys, etc.
- Charles & Donna Cooley-Owners of a small toy factory that is responsible for placing more than 1.5 million toys into the hands of children in the war-torn countries of the Middle East.
- Hunter Scott-A twelve-year-old boy who demanded and won justice for the WWII Navy commander who captained the USS Indianapolis and who had been unfairly court-martialed.