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| Bill Donovan in WWI |
We've had them in every age of America when we needed them most. I've personally met more than a few I believe will be known to History for work they are now doing and feats they will perform.
I've drawn your attention the last few weeks to Bill Donovan. He is not without controversy. No man in America will ever accomplish anything significant and find universal praise. It has been my experience the more you accomplish, the louder they scream.
In 1912, Donovan formed and led a troop of cavalry of the New York State Militia. This unit was mobilized in 1916 and served on the U.S.-Mexico border during the American government's campaign against Pancho Villa.
Did you get the opening there? He formed his own cavalry troop of Militia and led them into war.
Here's his Medal of Honor Citation: Lt. Col. Donovan personally led the assaulting wave in an attack upon a very strongly organized position, and when our troops were suffering heavy casualties he encouraged all near him by his example, moving among his men in exposed positions, reorganizing decimated platoons, and accompanying them forward in attacks. When he was wounded in the leg by machine-gun bullets, he refused to be evacuated and continued with his unit until it withdrew to a less exposed position.
In WWII America had no real intelligence capability. Bill Donovan stepped in and in a brilliantly short amount of time he put together one of the most effective Intelligence Services the world has ever seen. Of course, OSS was much more than simply an Intel service. OSS got work done. OSS moved enemies off the field. It lasted only 3 years, from 1942-45. As we all know OSS evolved into CIA.
I consider OSS to be a roll-up-your-sleeves, get-it-done, no-whining, work-with-what-you've-got, blue collar service that did real work, didn't care much for anything except results, and it worked. Bill Donovan understood the value of self-made men and didn't suffer from today's endemic snobbery of those who believe the only way a man can be good at anything is to have gone to college and then worked in that field all his life. Bill Donovan would have gotten along with Ben Franklin, I think.
Here's the thing about true heroes: They don't try to be heroes.
The men and women History remembers as heroic are those men and women who simply found a task that needed to be completed, then did it.
Yeah, I have met many of those men and women in the last few years.
We have work to do, Patriots.
Kerodin
III
