Part II: Unsung Heroes

Editor's Note: This is the second installation of a three-part series on Heroes.

The following story is my favorite example of an unsung hero.

In October 1962, the world teetered on the brink of a nuclear war. The Cuban Missile crisis between the USSR and the USA could have led to World War III.

Store shelves were being emptied by panic-buying Americans looking to store up on food and other necessary items in the event there was an attack.

Thanks to one man - and we all should know his name - Vasili Arkhipov, a nuclear holocaust was narrowly avoided.

Arkhipov was a Soviet Naval Officer in charge of one of the four submarines secretly tasked by a handful of Communist party officials with launching nukes if necessary.

Each commander had permission to act without direct orders from Moscow if they believed they were under threat. As commander of the entire submarine fleet only Arkhipov could veto a launch command.

Fortunately for the world he defied orders and rejected firing the powerful missiles when he had the opportunity to do it.

Find out why he didn't fire in this great PBS Series - The Man Who Saved the World |

Unlikely Heroes

What makes an unlikely hero? It's the compulsion to do "something" in the face of danger. 

Reacting instantly can be as much of a moral reaction as a chemical one. It's our fight - as in "fight, flight, or freeze" - response in action, a counter to stressful and dangerous stimuli that has been key to the survival of the species since the beginning.

You don't have to risk your life to be an unsung hero. Your actions can also result in saving lives of others or exposing government corruption.

Folks in Lawrenceville, Georgia couldn't believe their eyes as Angela Cavallo lifted a '64 Chevy Impala off of her teenage son!

Summoning up super strength Angela picked the car up 4-inches and held it until an 11-year-old neighbor got help and put the jack back up that had given away while her son was working on the vehicle.

Miraculously, despite a serious head injury, there was no brain damage.

On June 17, 1972, security guard Frank Wills was making his midnight rounds at the Watergate office building in Washington, D.C. when he noticed tape over the lock of a basement door. 

Thinking another worker had left it there accidentally, he removed it. Wills later found tape again in the same place. He called the police, and the rest is history. 

Two years later, President Nixon resigned in disgrace over his involvement in the coverup of the Watergate break-in. The Watergate scandal was one of the biggest lies that made history.

Five-year-old Zavi Achmed came to the rescue when a baby was accidently trapped in her grandmother's Volkswagen.

British police broke the back window but were too large to get inside. That's when Zavi who was nearby with his mom, volunteered to crawl in and unlock the door. For the record, Zavi was dressed up as his favorite superhero Batman, a common occurrence according to mom.

Throughout my life I've seen people who qualify as unsung heroes like the janitor that opened a school gym in off hours to let me and my buddy's play basketball instead of roaming the streets getting in trouble.

I've witnessed people literally give the shirt off their back to homeless people in need. I visited Mom & Pop restaurants in small towns that feed people too poor to buy a meal.

People who do good deeds in the community seldom get recognized for their generous help, both mentally and financially. But they don't care.

That's why we call them unsung heroes.