Hardcore Heroes

Fire and water are two of nature’s most vital elements, and the most deadly when they rage out of control. Jack Pritchard is a legendary hero of the New York City Fire Department, battling thousands of ferocious blazes over the course of a stellar thirty year career. He pulls off some of the most daring and incredible rescues in firefighter history, plunging into impossible infernos to save countless lives, proving himself to be literally fireproof again and again. Whether it’s leaping over a burned out stairwell with an injured child in his arms, racing into the carnage of a hoarder house fire, or breaching a solid wall of flames to save a baby in her crib, Jack Pritchard never gives up the fight. His courage has made him the only two time recipient of the James Gordon Bennett medal, the highest award for valor in the New York Fire Department. When Hurricane Katrina devastates New Orleans, close to two hundred people in the American Can Apartment building are left stranded without food, water, medicine, or hope. Help arrives in the form of John Keller, a former recon Marine who calls the American Can home and decides he can’t sit idly by while his neighbours are overrun by gangs, starvation and illness. Over the course of five days, Keller uses his military training and whatever means at his disposal to subdue thugs, find supplies, and otherwise assist those in need to weather the calamity of a drowned city. Thanks to his heroic efforts, mouths are fed, security is maintained, and evacuations are arranged. On his watch, every single resident of his building trapped by Katrina makes it to safety.

In the years following World War 2, aviation technology explodes, and with the massive increase in height and speed that aircraft are capable of attaining come new challenges for keeping pilots safe. Joe Kittinger is an air force test pilot who volunteers to test experimental parachute systems designed for high altitude bailouts. To do so, he stuffs himself into a small gondola attached to a helium filled balloon, rises to the edge of the stratosphere and jumps several miles back to earth. He courts extreme danger over the course of several jumps but survives them all, later going on to fly three tours of duty in Vietnam and being the first man to solo pilot a balloon across the Atlantic. At 84 years old, he mentors daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s historic space jump in October, 2012. Dr. John Stapp is a maverick military researcher who, among many accomplishments, tackles the problem of pilots getting killed due to poorly designed restraint systems. To simulate the conditions pilots contend with at jet speed velocity, he builds and straps himself into a rocket sled that is sent racing down a desert track at speeds that eventually top 600 miles per hour before coming to a sudden, violent stop. During his many runs Stapp suffers horribly injuries, including bruises, broken bones, and temporary blindness. As his velocity increases, so does the risk of death. Still he perseveres, succeeding in his mission to protect pilots, and eventually using his research to design something used by everyone; seatbelts in cars.

Chronicles of war are full of stories of a very few men confronting overwhelming forces and emerging victorious. The exploits of Drew Dix and Viktor Leonov are no exception. During the Vietnam War, Drew Dix is a Special Forces Staff Sergeant conducting covert operations across the border in Cambodia. When the City of Chau Doc is overrun by two battalions of Vietcong during the infamous Tet Offensive, it’s up to Dix and a small handful of fighters to turn the tide. Over the course of a fifty-six hour running gun battle, Dix and his team rescue fifteen civilians, kill over two hundred enemy, and liberate most of Chau Doc’s streets from their clutches. It’s an extraordinary feat that earns Dix the Medal of Honor for valor.

Sometimes heroes are hunters, sometimes they are hunted. George Rowe lived on the wrong side of the law, dealing and using methamphetamine. But when members of the notorious Vagos motorcycle club beat a good friend of his to within an inch of his life, George changes his ways, turns informant, and goes undercover for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Over the course of three years, he ingratiates himself with the Vagos, moving steadily up the ranks until he is part of the inner circle and privy to all of their illegal business. The whole time, he’s wearing a wire and everything is recorded by federal agents. When they finally strike, the club is decimated and their leaders jailed. Rowe pays a high price for his heroism, going into witness protection where he remains today. When the Soviet Union turns Eastern Europe into a Communist prison after World War 2, brothers Joe and Radek Masin, along with three friends, form a resistance cell. They plan to escape Czechoslovakia, get to West Berlin, join the US Army and return to liberate their country. What they believe is a three day walk turns into a three week nightmare as they elude authorities determined to hunt them down. Hiding in fields and barns, freezing and starving, constantly being shot at, their flight to freedom sparks the biggest manhunt in Soviet history. As their story spreads, they become folk heroes to oppressed people everywhere, and are helped by many who believe in their cause. Three of the five Masin Gang eventually reach West Berlin, and though they never return to their homeland, their legend continues to grow.

Massive force is usually resisted with an equally massive force, but sometimes a lone operator or mastermind is needed. Carlos Hathcock is a legendary sniper who takes on the toughest covert missions during the Vietnam War, silently stalking the most fearsome enemy combatants and taking them out before they can harm others. Among his targets are the Apache, a beautiful and sadistic woman who loves torturing American soldiers. He also goes up against the Cobra, the Vietcong’s most dangerous sniper and a legend in his own right. And when he’s sent deep behind enemy lines to kill a notorious general, he goes without food or rest for four days to avoid discovery. His valiant rescue of nine soldiers from an exploded tank, resulting in life threatening burns to himself, elevates his heroism to a whole other level. Cargo ships docking in third world ports are floating piles of cash at great risk of seizure by corrupt officials. Max Hardberger is the world’s only high seas anti-pirate, recovering stolen vessels from some of the world’s most treacherous locations, and rescuing their endangered crews in the process. To do so he goes deep undercover, using disguises, conducting extensive surveillance, using bribery, hiring prostitutes to lure enemies away- whatever ingenious moves it takes to get the thieves off the ship so he can reclaim it for his rightful owners. But the one thing he will never use is violence. In over twenty years of reclaiming illegally seized ships, Max has never fired a shot.

In the days before America enters World War 2, men in different parts of the country are champing at the bit to show their stuff. George Welch and Kenneth Taylor are two rookie pilots stationed at an airfield near the Hawaiian naval base at Pearl Harbor. Neither has ever fired a shot in battle. After a night of drinking, poker, and chasing girls, they awake on December 7, 1941 to the sound of attacking Japanese planes. While people around them flee in panic, Welch and Taylor throw on their party clothes from the night before and take to the skies to fight. In two sorties they shoot down over six Japanese aircraft, making them the first heroes of the war. Chuck Yeager has dreams of being a fighter pilot, but doesn’t have the college education required. He gets to fix planes, not fly them. When the attack on Pearl Harbor launches America into war, the military suddenly needs all the pilots it can get. Yeager climbs into a cockpit, and the rest is history. With his exceptional 20/10 vision, he’s able to spot German fighter craft before his fellow pilots, and is fearless in confronting them. He’s shot down behind enemy lines in France, but escapes over the Pyrenees Mountains. He becomes an ace in a day when he shoots down five enemy planes in a single sortie. And when the war ends, he becomes the test pilot who achieves one of the greatest feats in aviation history: the breaking of the sound barrier.