Nation’s Heroes Told of Real Courage

Speaking to the nation’s greatest war heroes Sunday, U.S. Sen. Pete Wilson pointed to the short life of a 15-year-old Fountain Valley boy as a clear example of valor, courage and sacrifice.

“He is no longer with us and was buried as a military hero even though he never served a day in the Armed Services,” Wilson told 150 Congressional Medal of Honor recipients who fought in some of the bloodiest battles in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. “He is a young man (of whom) those of us in Orange County are very proud.”

Wilson was referring to John Zimmerman, a youngster whose dying wishes were to become a Marine and be buried at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Puowaina Crater near Honolulu. He got both.

The San Diego Republican, who helped Zimmerman get his final wishes, was the featured speaker at an outdoor ceremony at the Irvine Hilton to recognize the Medal of Honor recipients. The gathering marked the end of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society’s biennial convention, which began Thursday in Orange County.

Later Sunday, Medal of Honor recipients were part of a boat parade in Newport Harbor.

A former Marine lieutenant and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Wilson said he “felt quite humble” in the company of those who hold the highest military award for bravery and courage.

He said John Zimmerman had one passion in his short life: “He wanted desperately to be a United States Marine.” And with the help of Marines at Camp Pendleton and El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, that dream came true when he was sworn in as an honorary Marine on Jan. 17, 1985. The ceremony took place by his hospital bed. Three days later, Zimmerman died of muscular dystrophy, a disease that had plagued him since birth.

“John was tough,” Wilson said, adding that most children with the disease die by age 5, but Zimmerman seemed to defy all the odds and lived until age 15.

It was a special love for his country, Wilson said, that “kept him going.”

“He never had a chance to test himself in combat,” Wilson said, silently comparing the small boy to those heroes in the audience whose battlefield actions had saved lives of their comrades while risking their own.

“But in my judgment, he was tested by living. I think he earned a medal by the way he led his short life, because he conducted himself with valor, courage, gallantry and sacrifice, and he understood the meaning of service.”

And this exceptional youngster had a better grasp of what freedom means than some who are much older, Wilson said.

“He knew that freedom isn’t free,” Wilson said. “Freedom isn’t free; instead it must be repurchased in every generation . . . with the courage of young men willing to give their lives for their country.”

Noting that freedom is not simply a condition but a “state of mind,” Wilson, apologizing for picking one among the ranks of Medal of Honor recipients, pointed to retired Vice Admiral James Stockdale, who spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war in Hanoi.

“They broke Jim Stockdale’s limbs in the Hanoi Hilton. They never broke his spirit,” Wilson said. He said the North Vietnamese enemy was never able to “shake from those men their faith in themselves, their faith in nation, their faith in this condition called freedom. . . .”

Stockdale, who lives in San Diego, received a Medal of Honor for enduring years of punishment in Hoa Lo Prison in Hanoi.

According to his citation, Stockdale, then a Navy captain, was “recognized by his captors as the leader in the prisoners of war resistance to participation in propaganda exploitation. . . .”

Stockdale was singled out by the enemy for interrogation and torture, and to show that he was willing to give his life rather than “capitulate,” he deliberately inflicted a near-mortal wound.

“He was subsequently discovered and revived by the North Vietnamese who, convinced of his indomitable spirit, abated in their employment of excessive harassment and torture toward all of the prisoners of war.”

Wilson, speaking of Stockdale and the other 230 living recipients, concluded:

“You inspire me. I am genuinely humble in your presence--that’s not easy for a politician (to say). . . . But I will tell you that I admire beyond any words I can express the kind of courage that has won that medal around your necks.”