No heros for the NY Times

The media has been criticized for its failure to write stories about some of the real heros of the war in Iraq, unlike wars in the past where medal winners were celebrated. To counter that charge the Times decide to go back and debunk one of the heros of World War I, Sgt. York.

On Oct. 8, 1918, Cpl. Alvin Cullum York and 16 other American doughboys stumbled upon more than a dozen German soldiers having breakfast in a boggy hollow here.

The ensuing firefight ended with the surrender of 132 Germans and won Corporal York a promotion to sergeant, the Medal of Honor and a place in America's pantheon of war heroes.

Now another battle is unfolding as rival researchers use global positioning systems and computer programs, old maps and military reports to try to establish the exact site of the fighting on that day 88 years ago. Their heated examinations do not challenge the essential heroism of Sergeant York, yet such scrutiny helps explain why it is hard to be a hero these days.

There are other reasons, too, of course. Wars are often unpopular clashes fraught with moral ambiguity, and while the news media are often attracted to heroism, they also like to challenge myth building.

...

No mention is made of some of the heros like Sgt Smith, the Medal of Honor winner, who gave his life in a heroic fight at the Baghdad airport, or Sgt. Hester who helped break up an ambush of a convoy. Hester's performance would make a great movie, but Hollywood is not interested in those kind of heroics, even if she was one of the few women to ever win a Silver Star in combat. No the NY Times trots out the story about Jessica Lynch.