History BigDamnHeroes / RealLife

* To quote the news article that was doing the rounds in 2009: You’re a 19 year old kid. You’re critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 – 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in. You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you’re not getting out. Your family is half-way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn’t seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Captain Ed Freeman (United States Army) is coming for you. He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job, but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He’s coming anyway. And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses. And, he kept coming back... 13 more times... And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out." [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/captain-ed-freeman/ A true story verified by Snopes]].

* King John III Sobieski of Poland and the Holy League at the Siege of Vienna in 1683. The Ottoman forces have had the city under siege for month and have finally managed to place the underground charges to breach the walls when 30,000 Polish heavy cavalry, led by the King himself and his famed elite Winged Hussars, show up, perform the largest cavalry charge in human history straight into the Ottoman lines, rout the Turks, and save the city. The Pope declared Sobieski the savior of Western civilization.

* To quote the news article that was doing the rounds in 2009: You’re a 19 year old kid. You’re critically wounded, and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley , 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam. Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 – 1, and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters to stop coming in. You’re lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns, and you know you’re not getting out. Your family is half-way around the world, 12,000 miles away, and you’ll never see them again. As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day. Then, over the machine gun noise, you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter, and you look up to see an unarmed Huey, but it doesn’t seem real, because no Medi-Vac markings are on it. Captain Ed Freeman (United States Army) is coming for you. He’s not Medi-Vac, so it’s not his job, but he’s flying his Huey down into the machine gun fire, after the Medi-Vacs were ordered not to come. He’s coming anyway. And he drops it in, and sits there in the machine gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board. Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire, to the Doctors and Nurses. And, he kept coming back…. 13 more times….. And took about 30 of you and your buddies out, who would never have gotten out." [[https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/captain-ed-freeman/ A true story verified by Snopes]].

* In another rescue on the high seas, the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Carpathia RMS Carpathia]]'' was the closest liner to the stricken ''UsefulNotes/RMSTitanic'' when she struck the iceberg in April 1912. The ''Carpathia'' was an old, slower ship capable of making a maximum of 14 knots (20.1 mph, 32.4 km/h). Through the efforts of Captain Arthur Rostron and her crew, they managed to push the ship's speed to ''17 and a half knots''. All the same, the ship arrived near the lifeboats of the ship 4 hours after they had received the distress signal, a little less than 2 hours after the ship had foundered. The ''Carpathia'' collected the survivors, then turned around from her normal course eastward to return to New York with the remnants of ''Titanic'''s passengers. Captain Rostron was later awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States, as well as being granted a knighthood by King George V.

* Indonesian general Gajah Mada started his career with this, helping King Jayanegara of Majapahit and his family escape the capital city of Trowluan when a rebellion went down, before later helping him take back the capital and crush the rebellion.

* Indonesian general Gajah Mada started his career with this.

* At the beginning of World War II for the western allies France, Belgium, and Great Britain, they had been surprised and routed early in 1940 by the German blitzkrieg to where much of their battered forces were stuck on French beaches awaiting destruction or capture. With not enough naval ships to provide evacuation, all hope seemed lost... until wave after wave of civilian ships - some of them rowboats - [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunkirk_evacuation started showing up to pick up the troops and carry them back]] to the British Isles. Within eight days, 800 vessels rescued ''338,000 troops'' giving the Allies a chance to keep fighting.

* Against all probability, infamously bumbling Mayor of London and current Prime Minister UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson pulled one of these when he intervened to stop a woman being attacked whilst out on his bicycle. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Makes]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer you]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity wonder]]...

* Against all probability, infamously bumbling mayor of London UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson pulled one of these when he intervened to stop a woman being attacked whilst out on his bicycle. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Makes]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer you]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity wonder]]...

** And not just for civilians. The Coast Guard has a long history of fighting alongside the US Navy during wartime, and one Coast Guardsman, Signalman 1st Class Douglas Munro, received the Medal of Honor [[HeroicSacrifice posthumously]] for his efforts to extract a group of Marines from a beachhead under heavy enemy fire at [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Guadalcanal]].

* This [[http://www.good.is/post/people-are-awesome-this-guy-scuba-dived-into-the-tsunami-to-rescue-his-wife-and-mother/ guy.]] He was going to rescue his mother, even if he had to scuba dive into the aftermath of a tsunami. Then he went ''back''; other still needed help.

* The launch of the NATO air strike campaign against [[GeneralRipper Gadaffi's]] forces, just as the last city under rebel control seemed in imminent danger of falling. Whether or not this is a good thing is up for debate, but it is unlikely that Gadaffi would have been keen to offer an olive branch afterwards.

* In the American Revolutionary War, a French naval fleet that the rebels had been asking for, came just in time to block British General Cornwallis from loading his soldiers onto boats into Chesapeake Bay to escape the colonists' land siege.
* When the liner ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria Andrea Doria]]'' was sinking due a collision with the MS ''Stockholm'' the situation was dire, as half the lifeboats were impossible use, the ''Stockholm'', damaged herself, couldn't help too much, and the first ships on the scene (small freighter ''Cape Ann'', military transport USS ''Pvt. William H. Thomas'' and destroyer escort ''Edward H. Allen'') were small and didn't have many lifeboats. That was when the ''Ile de France'' [[BigEntrance emerged from the mist with all lights shining to announce her arrival and identity]], bringing eleven lifeboats to the rescue operations ([[WillfullyWeak and still holding back most of them for the safety of her own passengers and crew]]) and the knowledge that everyone would be saved. Especially as everyone knew it was the ''third'' rescue operation the ''Ile de France'' took part in, and the previous two, in more difficult waters, had ended with the rescue of the endangered crew or ''the whole ship''. Once again, everyone still alive was saved.

** It's not just children that experience this. Firefighters can get stuck as a result of trying to find someone, or can get trapped by debris blocking their way out. For just this reason, City Fire Departments have assigned RIC Teams, who are trained and equipped to [[BigEntrance make a door directly to a trapped Firefighter]] to pull them out.
* Imagine this. You've gone into the water after your boat sank beneath you. You managed to get out a small distress call, but were unable to get out your position. As you get tossed around in the waves, suddenly you hear the sound of four Allison Turboprop engines scream overhead, you look up to see a United States Coast Guard C-130J dropping flares to mark your position, as well as an inflatable raft to get into. Minutes later, a United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer pulls you out of the raft, and puts you into a basket to bring you into the HH-60 hovering overhead. This scenario is repeated fairly regularly in the Bering Sea, and the United States Coast Guard has gotten very good at being Big Damn Heroes for Sea-Goers there over the last few decades.

* Benito Juárez, one of the most revered Mexican presidents, was about to be executed along with his whole cabinet by a traitor squad, when his friend Guillermo Prieto, then Minister of Finance, barged in. Prieto then put himself between the firing squad and Juárez and began a passionate speech with the words: "Put down those weapons! Put them down! Brave men don't murder! You are all brave men, and brave men don't murder. You are Mexicans! This is our representative for the law and our country! Lay down those weapons! Do you want to spill blood? [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Take]] [[TakingTheBullet mine]] [[TakeMeInstead instead]]!". He spoke until the firing squad retreated after he convinced them to spare their honor as soldiers and not betray the republic.

* United Flight 93. The plane is one of four hijacked by terrorists on September 11, 2001, and is 15 minutes out of Washington DC, where its target is located. The crew is dead. The passengers' only hope for survival is to retake the plane and land it themselves. At the sound of [[PreMortemOneLiner "Let's roll,"]] the passengers [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome charge the cockpit using the service tray as a battering ram.]] Knowing their defeat is imminent, [[BittersweetEnding the terrorists crash the plane rather than allow themselves to lose control of the airplane.]]

* When the liner ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria Andrea Doria]]'' was sinking due a collision with the MS ''Stockholm'' the situation was dire, as half the lifeboats were impossible use, the ''Stockholm'', damaged herself, couldn't help too much, and the first ships on the scene (small freighter ''Cape Ann'', military transport USS ''Pvt. William H. Thomas'' and destroyer escort ''Edward H. Allen'') were small and didn't have many lifeboats. That was when the ''Ile de France'' [[BigEntrance emerged from the mist with all lights shining to announce her arrival and identity]], bringing eleven lifeboats to the rescue operations ([[WillfullyWeak and still holding back most of them for the safety of her own passengers and crew]]) and the knowledge that everyone would be saved. Especially as everyone knew it was the ''third'' rescue operation the ''Ile de France'' took part in, and the previous two, in more difficult waters, had ended with the rescue of the endangered crew or ''the whole ship''. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Once again, everyone still alive was saved]].

* Imagine this. You've gone into the water after your boat sank beneath you. You managed to get out a small distress call, but were unable to get out your position. As you get tossed around in the waves, suddenly you hear the sound of four Allison Turboprop engines scream overhead, you look up to see a United States Coast Guard C-130J dropping flares to mark your position, as well as an inflatable raft to get into. Minutes later, a United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer pulls you out of the raft, and puts you into a basket to bring you into the HH-60 hovering overhead. This scenario is repeated fairly regularly in the Bearing Sea, and the United States Coast Guard has gotten very good at being Big Damn Heroes for Sea-Goers there over the last few decades.

* In another rescue on the high seas, the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Carpathia RMS Carpathia]]'' was the closest liner to the stricken ''RMSTitanic'' when she struck the iceberg in April 1912. The ''Carpathia'' was an old, slower ship capable of making a maximum of 14 knots (20.1 mph, 32.4 km/h). Through the efforts of Captain Arthur Rostron and her crew, they managed to push the ship's speed to ''17 and a half knots''. All the same, the ship arrived near the lifeboats of the ship 4 hours after they had received the distress signal, a little less than 2 hours after the ship had foundered. The ''Carpathia'' collected the survivors, then turned around from her normal course eastward to return to New York with the remnants of ''Titanic'''s passengers. Captain Rostron was later awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States, as well as being granted a knighthood by King George V.

* Against all probability, infamously bumbling mayor of London Boris Johnson pulled one of these when he intervened to stop a woman being attacked whilst out on his bicycle. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Makes]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer you]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity wonder]]...

* Imagine this. You've gone into the water after your boat sank beneath you. You managed to get out a small distress call, but were unable to get out your position. As you get tossed around in the waves, suddenly you hear the sound of four Allison Turboprop engines scream overhead, you look up to see a United States Coast Guard C-130J dropping flares to mark your position, as well as an inflatable raft to get into. Minutes later, a United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer pulls you out of the raft, and puts you into a basket to bring you into the HH-60 hovering overhead. This scenario is repeated fairly regularly in the Bearing Sea, and the United States Coast Guard has gotten very good at being Big Damn Heroes for Sea-Goers there over the last few decades.

* Imagine this. You've gone into the water after your boat sank beneath you. You managed to get out a small distress call, but were unable to get out your position. As you get tossed around in the waves, suddenly you hear the sound of four Allison Turboprop engines scream overhead, you look up to see a United States Coast Guard C-130J dropping flares to mark your position, as well as an inflatable raft to get into. Minutes later, a United States Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer pulls you out of the raft, and puts you into a basket to bring you into the HH-60 hovering overhead. This scenario is repeated fairly regularly in the Bearing Sea, and the Unite States Coast Guard has gotten very good at being Big Damn Heroes for Sea-Goers there over the last few decades.

* In the American Revolutionary War, a French naval fleet we had been asking for came just in time to block British General Cornwallis from loading his soldiers onto boats into Chesapeake Bay to escape the colonists' land siege.

** It's not just children that experience this. Firefighters can get stuck as a result of trying to find someone, or can get trapped by debris blocking their way out. For just this reason, City Fire Departments have assigned RIC Teams, who are trained and equipped to [[BigEntrance make a door directly to a trapped Firefighter]] to pull them out

* In another rescue on the high seas, the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Carpathia RMS Carpathia]]'' was the closest liner to the stricken ''RMSTitanic'' when she struck the iceberg in April 1912. The ''Carpathia'' was an old, slower ship capable of making a maximum of 14 knots (20.1 mph, 32.4 km/h). Through the efforts of Captain Arthur Rostron and her crew, they managed to push the ship's speed to ''17 and a half knots''. All the same, the ship arrived near the lifeboats of the ship 4 hours after they had received the distress signal, a little less than 2 hours after the ship had foundered. The ''Carpathia'' collected the survivors, then turned around from her normal course eastward to return to New York with the remnants of ''Titanic'''s passengers. Captain Rostron was later awarded the Congressional Gold Medal by the United States, as well as being granted a knighthood by King George V.

* In another rescue on the high seas, the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Carpathia RMS Carpathia]]'' was the closest liner to the stricken ''RMSTitanic'' when she struck the iceberg in April 1912. The ''Carpathia'' was an old, slower ship capable of making a maximum of 14 knots (20.1 mph, 32.4 km/h). Through the efforts of Captain Arthur Rostron and her crew, they managed to push the ship's speed to ''17 and a half knots''. All the same, the ship arrived near the lifeboats of the ship 4 hours after they had received the distress signal, a little less than 2 hours after the ship had foundered. The ''Carpathia'' collected the survivors, then turned around from her normal course eastward to return to New York with the remnants of ''Titanic'''s passengers. Captain Rostron was later awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by the United States, as well as being granted a knighthood by King George V of the United Kingdom.

* When the liner ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria Andrea Doria]]'' was sinking due a collision with the MS ''Stockholm'' the situation was dire, as half the lifeboats were impossible use, the ''Stockholm'', damaged herself, couldn't help too much, and the first ships on the scene (small freighter ''Cape Ann'', military transport USS ''Pvt. William H. Thomas'' and destroyer escort ''Edward H. Allen'') were small and didn't have many lifeboats. That was when the ''Ile de France'' [[BigEntrance emerged from the mist with all lights shining to announce her arrival and identity]], bringing eleven lifeboats to the rescue operations ([[WillfullyWeak and still holding back most of them for the safety of her own passengers and crew]]) and the knowledge that everyone would be saved. Especially as everyone knew it was the ''third'' rescue operation the ''Ile de France'' took part in, and the previous two, in more difficult waters, had ended with the rescue of the endangered crew or ''the whole ship''. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Once again, everyone still alive was saved]].

* When the liner ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Andrea_Doria Andrea Doria]]'' was sinking due a collision with the MS ''Stockholm'' the situation was dire, as half the lifeboats were impossible use, the ''Stockholm'', damaged herself, couldn't help too much, and the first ships on the scene (small freighter ''Cape Ann'', military transport USS ''Pvt. William H. Thomas'' and destroyer escort ''Edward H. Allen'') were small and didn't have many lifeboats. That was when the ''Ile de France'' [[BigDamnEntrance emerged from the mist with all lights shining to announce her arrival and identity]], bringing eleven lifeboats to the rescue operations ([[WillfullyWeak and still holding back most of them for the safety of her own passengers and crew]]) and the knowledge that everyone would be saved. Especially as everyone knew it was the ''third'' rescue operation the ''Ile de France'' took part in, and the previous two, in more difficult waters, had ended with the rescue of the endangered crew or ''the whole ship''. [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Once again, everyone still alive was saved]].

* In the American Revolutionary War, a French naval fleet we had been asking for came just in time to block British General Cornwallis from loading his soldiers onto boats into Chesapeake Bay to escape the colonists' land siege.

* Any time a member of the public is trying to save someone's life with CPR, and then the paramedics show up.

* Against all probability, infamously bumbling mayor of London Boris Johnson recently pulled one of these when he intervened to stop a woman being attacked whilst out on his bicycle. [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Makes]] [[BunnyEarsLawyer you]] [[ObfuscatingStupidity wonder]]...

* United Flight 93. The plane has been hijacked by kamikaze terrorists and is 15 minutes out of DC, where its target is located. The crew is dead. The passengers' only hope for survival is to retake the plane and land it themselves. At the sound of [[PreMortemOneLiner "Let's roll,"]] the passengers [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome charge the cockpit using the service tray as a battering ram.]] Knowing their defeat is imminent, [[BittersweetEnding the terrorists crash the plane rather than allow themselves to lose control of the airplane.]] Please note that the plane was one of the four deployed in the 9/11 terrorist attack.

* There's a video of a fan running onto the field of a soccer match waving a flag, pursued by four police officers. After the four officers pin the fan, one of the officers starts [[PoliceBrutality repeatedly hitting the immobilized fan with his baton]]. This caused several members of the soccer teams playing ''as well as a significant portion of the audience'' to stop what they were doing and ''charge the officers,'' [[OhCrap resulting in said officers immediately running for their lives]] before being [[{{Irony}} beaten by the mob]] and escorted off of the field.

** UsefulNotes/DanielInouye, the late Senator of UsefulNotes/{{Hawaii}} and former President Pro Tempore, led the 442nd in that rescue. He took a shot to the stomach, destroyed one machine gun nest, destroyed the next with his men, had his arm blown off, pried the live grenade from his (dead) right hand, destroyed the last nest, finished off the last German soldier with a one-handed burst from his Thompson SMG, was hit in the leg, and tumbled down to the bottom of the hill unconscious. For his actions, Inouye was awarded the Medal of Honor. The best part? He was one of '''twenty-one''' soldiers in the 442nd who were awarded the Medal of Honor.

* The NATO air forces saving the Libyan rebels, just as the last city under their control was about to be invaded by [[GeneralRipper Gadaffi's]] forces.