How Tough is a Hero?

The highest award in the land is the Congressional Medal of Honor. It was given to only 94 super-heroes in all of World War I. Last week it was awarded for the first time in World War II--posthumously to Second Lieutenant Alexander Ramsey Nininger Jr., of the Philippine Scouts, for "intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty."

Sandy Nininger was a gentle boy, not one with an urge for heroics. Sandy was a friend of beauty. He loved poetry: his father once caught him reading Baudelaire in French, and chided him for it. He wrote secretly. He loved music: at West Point he hated the bleak life--drill, drill, drill--and tried to relieve it by organizing concerts. Last May he persuaded Helen Jepson to give a Sunday afternoon recital at the Academy. When he graduated last June he remarked that the first thing he wanted to do with his new pay was to buy a gramophone and some records. His favorite was Tchaikovsky's Pathetique. He loved the theater: his father was an actor.

The deed that Sandy Nininger did in the Philippines was beautiful only in its violence; it was dedicated to the hope that other American boys might enjoy the beautiful things for which Sandy Nininger never seemed to have enough time. The deed, as described in his citation:

"Enemy snipers in trees and fox holes had stopped counterattack to regain part of position. In hand-to-hand fighting which followed, Lieut. Nininger repeatedly forced his way to and into the hostile position. Though exposed to heavy enemy fire, he continued to attack with rifle and hand grenades and succeeded in destroying several enemy groups in fox holes, and enemy snipers.

"Although wounded three times, he continued his attacks until he was killed after pushing alone far within the enemy position. When his body was found after recapture of the position, one enemy officer and two enemy soldiers lay dead around him."

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