Andy Rasch is an American hero. Hero is a word that gets bandied about far too often and most of the time those to whom it is attached really haven’t earned the distinction.

Those who HAVE earned it would agree that Andy has earned it too.

Andy has earned quite another distinction as well. Last week, in Phoenix, Arizona, and did something remarkable. Andy Rasch had a birthday…His 110^th birthday.

Andy is a noticeable man at 6 feet tall and still around 200 pounds and he has a secret for living this long.

“Damn the torpedos, full speed ahead.”

So, what is it exactly which makes Andy Rasch a hero?

Well…Andy served his country in WWII and while that would be enough to have earned the title, Andy did something else too.

Andy Rasch served his country in WWI.

That’s World War 1.

ONE!

When Andy was born back in 1901, things were different than they are today.

In 1901, President McKinley died of 2 gunshot wounds.

In 1901, crossword puzzles hadn’t been invented yet…Neither had canned beer.

Back in 1901, there were only 8,000 cars on the roads and only 144 miles of those roads in the entire United States were paved.

When Andy Rasch was born, only 14% of homes in our nation had a bathtub and only 8% had a phone.

In 1901, you could but 10 pounds of coffee, from Sears, for just $2.10.

There were no airplanes when Andy was born…that would take another 2 years.

Thing were different then.

When Andy Rasch was just 16 years old, he ran away from an orphanage where he and his sister lived to join the Navy and during that last year of WWI, Andy served aboard the USS Oklahoma. During that service, there was a fire in the Oklahoma and Andy kept entering the flames time after time until he had saved 4 of his shipmates.

HERO!!

After WWI, Andy went back to that orphanage where he and his sister had lived and been badly abused and he got his sister out, helping her squeeze between the bars of the iron fence which surrounded the property.

That makes Andy Rasch a hero, too.

During WWII, Andy was an Army reservist serving his country, in yet another world war.

Hero!

Of Frank Buckolz, America’s last known WWI vet who recently passed away, Andy says, “He may be the oldest WWI Vet, but he’s not the last!” 

Andy Rasch has spent the bulk of his years helping kids. Andy knows what it’s like to be a kid that nobody helped and he has reportedly spent time, effort, money and more to assist any child he could who needed it.

“If you can make a difference in one child’s life, then you’ve accomplished something,” is what Andy says.

That too makes Andy Rasch a hero.

Most of today’s youth would look at Andy and see an old man…A really old man and if that’s all they saw, well then, they wouldn’t have really seen Andy Rasch at all. They wouldn’t know of his life, his childhood or what he’s done for children who never knew his name.

They wouldn’t know that he served in WWII though some might guess at it just based on his age.

They certainly wouldn’t know he was in the Navy and saved the lives of shipmates all the way back in WWI and they wouldn’t know he is a hero.

You know it now.

Let others know it too.

 

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