News-Record.com

The following is a Counterpoint column:

By Kathy Scott Rummage

America has lost one of its finest with the recent death of a hero. Asheboro airman Chief Master Sgt. Luther D. Rummage Jr. fought in harrowing battles, flying in bombing raids as U.S. forces tried to defeat the ruthless attacker.

With America fighting battles overseas right now, this could be the story of an Iraq war vet. But Luther Dee -- "L.D." to his loved ones -- was a survivor of World War II. His family only learned his story in recent years as L.D. slowly let it drain from his heart, where it had been bottled for decades.

L.D. was also "Dad" and "Granddaddy," and those who called him those names learned the master woodworker and avid golfer was also an American hero.

Rummage was one of the original members of the 448th Bomb Group and was in the 713th Squadron in England as a flight engineer aboard a B-24 Liberator. He was on the 448th's first bomb run over Germany and flew in the Berlin raid of April 19, 1944. He was wounded on his third mission over France and shot down over England on his 12th mission. It was during the fateful 13th mission that he was shot down again, this time over Germany, and captured. He escaped, only to become a prisoner in Switzerland. The French Underground rescued him and he eventually returned home just two days before Christmas 1944. For his terrified family in Mooresville, it had been an agonizing eight months while he was listed as missing in action.

We now have CNN and Fox News to document the fighting in the Middle East 24 hours a day, but the wars of our golden generation are preserved largely in their memories. We must turn off the TV, log off the Internet and tune in to our aging veterans. The Associated Press recently reported that our World War II vets are dying off at an astonishing rate of 1,000 a day.

Make that 1,001, because we lost an incredible man who sacrificed his safety in the skies over Europe many years ago. A man who came home, married his sweetheart, Helen, and helped raise a family of four children, eight grandchildren and one great-grandchild. A man who, when you took the time to ask and listen, would tell you his unforgettable story. It didn't take long to learn he had a Purple Heart and a red, white and blue soul.

The writer lives in Charlotte.