Act of Valor - Life of Legacy

One of the most underreported stories in recent months just occurred. Marine Sergeant Dakota Meyer, recipient of the Medal of Honor, reenlisted into the US Marine Corps after a 15-year break in service in a high-profile ceremony in which Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth personally administered the oath of enlistment.

Speaking just days later Sergeant Meyer said, “There’s never been a better time to serve our country than right now. There’s never been a need, like we need right now, of good men and women who are willing to stand up and who are willing [to] defend the beliefs of the American people, of the Constitution ...."

More of that please.

Meyers took the oath just weeks after National Medal of Honor Day which occurs every March 25th. During this year’s day of recognition a friend of mine took the group of boys in his Trail Life troop to do a wreath laying ceremony at the National Cemetery near Montevallo. He later related that he had been unaware how many Medal of Honor recipients have come from our home state of Alabama. Thirty-three to be exact.

I have had the privilege of meeting several of Alabama’s recipients. One, Army Colonel and Green Beret legend Ola Lee Mize, profoundly spoke into my own life before my deployment to Afghanistan.

The Medal of Honor is our nations highest award for valor in combat. The recipient must have been faced with an extreme combat situation whose outcome was shaped by their actions. Any wearer of the Medal of Honor is due to be saluted by all uniformed personnel regardless of rank, meaning that small sky blue swatch of ribbon requires a general to salute a private.

In the history of the United States there have been just over 3500 recipients.

But there is one awardee from Alabama whose story still carries an ongoing legacy. That man was Henry Eugene Erwin. His friends called him “Red”.

Red Erwin was described as “a country boy, quiet, unassuming, religiously devout,” and the best radioman of the 52d Bomb Squadron in WWII. Erwin flew with the crew of a B-29 Superfortress nicknamed the City of Los Angeles. Part of Erwin’s job was to drop a white phosphorous smoke bomb marker out of a chute to mark the assembly area for all other planes. He had done so multiple times before. But on his 11th combat mission it went badly.

With City of Los Angeles under fire, Erwin, released his white phosphorous bomb into the chute. The bomb malfunctioned and ignited, immediately reaching 1,300 degrees. White phosphorous will burn continually. It can’t be put out with water, and burns at temperatures that melt metal while creating massive amounts of thick white smoke.

The canister blew back up the chute into Erwin’s face, blinding him, searing off one ear, and filling the B-29 with heavy smoke that obscured the pilots’ vision. Despite his massive injuries Erwin knew that the bomb had to be jettisoned or it would burn through the metal floor into the bomb bay and his aircraft and crew would be killed.

Totally blind and burning, he located the burning bomb and picked it up in his bare hands. Groping his way through the plane his face and arms became covered with burning phosphorus. He stayed conscious as it burned through his flesh to the bone. Red Erwin, a man literally on fire, finally stumbled into the cockpit, threw the bomb out the window, and collapsed with burning phosphorous still melting his flesh.

Witness say that Erwin remained conscious on the flight back and the only thing he asked about was the safety of the rest of the crew. He was not expected to live. Major General Curtis LeMay asked for rushed approval for the award of the Medal of Honor so that they could present it to him before he died. General Hap Arnold wrote to him while he was in the hospital and said: “I regard your act as one of the bravest in the records of this war.”

Despite all fears to the contrary Red Erwin did survive. He spent over thirty months in rehab and multiple reconstructive surgeries. He regained his eyesight and the use of one arm. Erwin was promoted to Master Sergeant and discharged in October 1947. For 37 years Red Erwin served as a Veterans’ Benefit Counselor at the VA Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama.

But there is more to the legacy of Red Erwin than his wartime heroism.

Red Erwin’s son, Hank, is someone I have had the pleasure of getting to know. Hank Erwin is a former Alabama State Senator and the central figure in the story of “Woodlawn”, the Birmingham school that saw a major revival of Christian faith in the 60’s thanks in large part to Hank Erwin serving as the football team chaplain

Hank Erwin was known for his conservative record in the State Senate and in 2010 he ran for Lt. Governor, losing in the primary to Kay Ivey. One has to wonder what would have happened if Erwin had beaten Ivey who went on to take the office of Governor when Governor Robert Bentley stepped down.

But it doesn’t stop there.

Hank Erwin’s sons are Jon and Andrew Erwin. Known in the movie industry as “The Erwin Brothers”, they are famous for restoring faith and values to movie making with hits like “Woodlawn”, “October Baby”, and “American Underdog”. Their movie “I Can Only Imagine” is the third highest grossing music-biopic movie of all time, and they are currently the producers and directors of the hit Amazon series, “House of David”.

Hank Erwin, and the Erwin brothers are extensions of the legacy left to them by Red Erwin.

Red Erwin committed an act of valor in the war. But he lived a life of legacy. He came home and quietly raised a family that is still changing the world.