Beyond Bravery

[RangerX]

Everyone in our military volunteers to perform hazardous duty if and when ordered. We all did that when we raised our hand and took that oath on enlistment or commissioning.

Yet still, there are limits to what it’s reasonable to ask of anyone. How would you react if someone came up with a mission that required an individual to:

• allow themselves to be captured;
  be imprisoned in a notorious concentration camp;
  organize internal resistance and a spy network inside that camp;
  send back regular reports of camp conditions;
  stay there for 2 1/2 years; and
  figure out how to escape if and when they ever wanted to come home.

Certainly few would propose such a mission for themselves or any of their subordinates. Indeed, on hearing such a proposal I’d guess most of us would probably react with some variation of the coarse line from the old Cheech and Chong routine about kamikaze pilots: “You outa you f**king mind!”

Now assume that someone had actually done the above. How many of us believe that same individual would then afterwards:

• voluntarily go behind enemy lines yet again to take part in an insurrection;
  survive being captured a second time and held captive for another 9 months;
  return to full duty yet again after being released; and then
  voluntarily go behind enemy lines yet another time – this time to serve as a spy?

Most of us would probably regard any story containing such a collection of accomplishments the plot outline for a horrible spy novel. That is, we’d say it was so ridiculously preposterous as to be completely unbelievable.

Except it isn’t preposterous. It actually happened.

And the place to which this man allowed himself to be sent and imprisoned for 2 1/2 years? It was called “Auschwitz”.

The man’s name was Witold Pilecki. He was an officer in the Polish Army during World War II.

Full Story

[Jim]

Wow! Beyond bravery is an understatement.

[RangersNana]

Speachless!!!