This is the life story of Al Lynch in his own words ― an American hero who is now one of only 72 living Medal of Honor recipients. This is the story of a happy boy growing up in Chicagoland’s South Side industrial neighborhoods. His early happiness was almost eradicated by several years of intense bullying, though he found ways to overcome that experience. This is the story of an aimless young man whose prospects of following in his father’s foot-steps as a blue-collar tradesman were cut short by the Vietnam War and by his personal search for something greater than himself. This is the story of a man whose meandering military career, and his life up to that point, came into sharp focus when, in a deadly firefight in Vietnam, he rushed to rescue three wounded troopers in no man’s land. He was urged to leave the wounded and return to a safe position. But Lynch refused to retreat in order to stay with his troopers despite having every reason to believe he would die that afternoon. Because of these actions, he is a hero.