Prison Break - My Tale of Finding a Hero

What makes a person a hero? Should that person work one of those jobs we often see as heroic, such as a policeman or a firefighter? Should that person be one of the 9/11 responders that helped rescue people or clear rubble? Or should that person be of upstanding character traits that motivate others to be better people and to improve their lives? And how many of the aforementioned categories should a person fit into in order to be considered a real hero?

Lucky for me I don’t have to decide between any of those factors when I talk about one of my heroes. He was a firefighter, he worked at Ground Zero on 9/11, and he encourages others to improve their lives leading by example. My friend is a fellow writer here at HubPages and he goes by the name American View. He writes mostly political Hubs but he does squeeze out the occasional poem. He also has his own radio show on Monday evenings and on Friday evenings (although he will be off-air for a bit due to a recent move.) Believe it or not he has done all his writing and radio shows from a hospital where he has been for the last 3 years after almost dying. The doctors told him he would never leave the hospital, they said they couldn’t fix him because they don’t know whats wrong with him. However, as we speak, my friend is making a run for the border, heading for the hills, turning over a new leaf.

He done made a prison break and he ain’t never goin’ back! I am so proud of my friend for determining the path his life will take no matter what the doctors told him. It's been a struggle but he has made it. And in a couple days he will be living on his own again in a new apartment. He is starting all over again but he is not afraid or worried. He speaks with confidence and conviction when he says “I’ll be okay.” Yes, I think he will indeed be just fine. I feel this because I have come to learn that this man doesn’t know the meaning of the word quit.

911 First Responders Need Your Help by American View

911 responders and all those involved there at ground zero are still getting sick and are not getting the health care they need. Please go to the link, in there is a letter you can cut and pate with an email address where you can send it. It is important to get the administration and NYC to add cancer as well as all the breathing disorders all those people suffer from to be recognized as having happened as a result of the 911 attacks. Thanks for doing so.

Tied up, locked up, bound to this miserable place

I hated that dark moment, my shocking fall from grace

Struggles and fights and neglect seen each day

But I had to do my time; I had no choice but to stay

This place made me grow sicker as I sat here alone

I wanted nothing more than to be away, back home.

They jeered and they poked and said ‘you’ll never leave’

I jeered and poked back and told them ‘just watch me’

I got stronger each day and I made a determined plan

To rid myself of these iron shackles to be a free man

While I was writing this Hub in honor of my friend I came across other famous prison breaks including both prisoners of war and criminals. For your reading pleasure :

Alfred Wetzler was one of only a few people who were ever able to escape Auschwitz, Hitler’s largest concentration camp. By 1944 12,000 Jews a day were being executed within this secret prison. Two prisoners, Rudolph Vrba and Alfred Wetzler, were determined to expose the terrors of Germany’s most heavily-guarded secret and to stop the Nazi genocide and killing factories forever. In April, 1944 the two prisoners hid in a woodpile under guards’ noses and traveled for 3 days through rugged and dangerous enemy terrain. They solicited the help of strangers and covered 85 miles in 15 days to reach people they thought could help. Vrba and Wetzler compiled and delivered a report containing a ground plan of the camp, construction details of the gas chambers and crematoriums, and even a label from a canister of Zyklon gas. Vrba’s and Wetzler’s efforts have come to be known as the largest single rescue of Jews in WWII.

The Maze Prison Escape is the biggest prison escape in British history. The prison was considered one of the most escape-proof prisons in Europe. Its 15-foot fences were surrounded by an 18-foot concrete wall that was topped with barbed wire. All gates to the prison were solid steel and electronically operated. However, at 2:30 pm on September 25^th, 1983, 38 Irish Republican Army (IRA) prisoners were able to escape from H-Block 7 of the prison. The prisoners took control of the prison guards at gunpoint and held them hostage while some prisoners took the guards clothing and car key to help with the escape. One prison officer died of a heart attack and another 20 people were injured during the scuffle for control. At 3:25 pm a food truck arrived at the prison to make a delivery. The prisoners made the driver aid in their escape. Over the next several days 19 of the 38 escapees were caught. The rest are still unaccounted for or have made it to areas that prevented their forced return.

The Libby Prison Escape is touted as one of the most famous and successful prison breaks during the American Civil War. Between February 9^th and February 10^th, 1864, 109 Union soldiers broke out of their prisoner-of-war building in Richmond, Virginia via tunnel. The tunnel originated in the basement of the prison, known as “Rat Hell” for reasons I’m sure we all can guess. Because the basement was so infested with rats it was no longer used and the prisoners were able to dig undetected. The prisoners worked for 17 days, eventually breaking through to a 50-foot vacant lot on the side of the prison. The tunnel then resurfaced beneath a tobacco shed of a nearby warehouse. Of the 109 escaped prisoners only 48 were recaptured. 59 of the prisoners succeeded in reaching Union lines and 2 of the prisoners downed while crossing the James River.

The Texas 7 was a group of prisoners who made their escape on December 13, 2000 from the John Connally Unit near Kenedy, Texas. The group took advantage of the slowest time of day when they knew there would be less surveillance of certain areas. They used several creative ploys to eventually overpower and restrain nine civilian maintenance workers, four correctional officers, and three uninvolved inmates. Most often one prisoner would call over and distract a victim while a different member of the 7 hit the victim in the head. Once subdued, each victim had clothing removed, got bound and gagged, and was then hidden in a locked electrical room. The Texas 7 were caught January 21-January 23, 2001 as a result of the TV show 'America’s Most Wanted'. Of the group, 5 living members are on death row awaiting death by legal injection, 1 member committed suicide and the last member has already been executed.

The Stalag Luft III was a prisoner-of-war camp used by the German Air Force during World War II. In January 1943, Roger Bushell, an imprisoned air force member, devised a plan of escape that consisted of digging three deep (about 30 ft deep) tunnels. The construction of the tunnels was so in depth that each tunnel was rigged with a pump (to push fresh oxygen along ducting), electrical lighting, and a railcar system to transport sand from the tunnels. Of the three tunnels, codenamed “Tom”, “Dick”, and “Harry”, “Harry” was the first to be ready for use in March of 1944. The prisoners waited a week for a moonless night, and on March 24^th the escape attempt began. However, the tunnel came up short of the tree line they were hoping to reach. Even with this shortcoming, 76 men were able to crawl through the tunnel to initial freedom. At 5 am March 25^th, the 77^th man was seen exiting the tunnel. Only 3 of the 77 were able to evade recapture. Fifty of the others were killed and the remaining men were sent back to prison.