The War Hero

Dale Jacobs is preparing a Memorial Day newspaper series about Odyssey’s war heroes when he learns that Connie’s great-uncle, Joe Finneman, served in World War II. Official records say Joe received both a Purple Heart and a Medal of Bravery, yet Joe insists there is no story to tell. He wants no recognition and refuses to discuss what happened. The very mention of the war troubles him, and after Connie and Dale leave his market, he quietly wonders why the past has to return now.

Connie tries to persuade her uncle to talk by asking about his friend Sam Saburo. Joe readily calls Sam a true hero and explains that they met through the military before Joe enlisted in the Marines. Joe has served at Guadalcanal and several other places before reaching New Guinea, but he recognizes Connie’s attempt to steer him toward his own experience. He stops the conversation and says he wants nothing to do with Memorial Day or war heroes.

Dale keeps investigating. Information from the Veterans of Foreign Wars says Sergeant Joe Finneman single-handedly fought off a Japanese attack while leading a group of children to safety. It also reveals that Joe refused both of his decorations. Then Dale hears from Terence Buganville, a successful businessman from Papua New Guinea who has spent fifty years searching for the soldier who rescued him as a child. Connie and Dale arrange for the two men to meet at Odyssey’s war memorial.

Joe first denies knowing Terence, but Terence produces an old photograph of Joe standing beside Sam Saburo. As a frightened boy, Terence had secretly taken it after Joe collapsed from his wounds. Joe had described Sam as the bravest and most honest man he had ever known, so the photograph of one brave man beside another gave Terence courage through the rest of the war and throughout his life. He has come to return it and thank Joe.

Unable to keep the truth hidden, Joe admits that he was never supposed to be near the children. During the brutal fighting in New Guinea, he had watched friend after friend die until something inside him broke. While his squad moved through the jungle, he deliberately fell behind, intending to hide for a day and then rejoin the men on their return. Instead, he became lost and wandered into a deserted village, where he found Terence and several younger children hiding in a hut. Japanese soldiers had taken their parents, leaving Terence, the oldest, to care for the others.

Joe shares his rations and comforts the frightened children with stories. When Terence asks whether Joe will take them to safety, Joe promises that he will - but privately plans to slip away once they are asleep. Terence stays awake late, asking about Joe’s home and closest friend. Joe shows him the photograph of Sam and explains that Sam has died. Terence offers to become Joe’s new best mate, and his trust makes Joe’s planned abandonment even harder to bear.

When Terence finally falls asleep, Joe leaves. The farther he travels, however, the more he hears the boy’s trusting words in his mind. He turns back, only to find a Japanese soldier ordering the terrified children out of the hut. Joe again considers fleeing: firing his rifle might draw more soldiers, and intervention could mean capture or death. Then he hears the children calling for him. He rushes the soldier, fights him at close range, and knocks him from the raised hut. The soldier has wounded Joe with a bayonet, but Joe leads the children toward the American lines before collapsing from blood loss. Terence later tells the military what Joe has done.

Joe believes his desertion and his two attempts to abandon the children make him a coward. Terence sees the matter differently. Joe saved the children from slavery or death, and to them he will always be a hero. Joe appreciates those words but cannot yet forgive himself.

Dale publishes the whole account. He does not pretend that Joe felt no fear or never failed; instead, he argues that heroism means doing the right thing when it counts. Connie reads the article aloud to Joe and tells him that he is the only person in Odyssey who considers him a coward. Joe finally asks whether there is room for him beside Connie at the Memorial Day parade. Whit has saved her a place, and Connie promises they will make room for Joe too. Together they step out to honor those who have served, while Connie thanks her uncle for being there when the children - and the world - needed him.