I hope you can publish this letter. I was one of the rescuers quoted in a front page story that appeared in the Taipei Times on Sept. 24, headlined "Taiwan battles against the clock: for international rescuers, it's all in a day's work."
I just returned from Taiwan after completing rescue operations as a member of the Fairfax County Urban Search and Rescue Team. We were graciously greeted back into the US by a large group of Taiwanese people who now live in America. They, like many people of Taiwan, labeled us as heroes for coming to help them after the earthquake. It was obvious that our presence in Taiwan brought renewed hope to those that suffered. This made it even more difficult for us to accept the limited success we had in finding survivors as we packed up to return home -- all of us wishing so hard that we could have done more.
What struck me the most was the eagerness that everyone had in calling us heroes.
Yet I saw so many heroes in the Taiwanese people I met.
I found firemen, policemen, doctors and citizens working around the clock for days trying to help. One of the many heroes that sticks in my mind was a fireman I met during our search-and-rescue operations in Touliu, Yunlin County. As we stopped our search atop a pile of debris to take a breather and to think about the next move, he told me of what he had confronted. He pointed to an apartment building that stood next to us and said that was were he lived.
He then pointed to the collapsed building that we were scouring in hopes of finding survivors and told me his mother was one of the missing we were searching for.
Then he pointed to the pile of debris where we stood and said that this is where he pulled his children from the rubble. And then, he continued to search for hope.
Who are the heroes?
Look to yourselves, because I know similar stories were repeated all around Taiwan. Look to the Taiwanese rescue workers that risked their lives before we arrived and continued even after we had left. Look to those that supported the workers with food, water and tools.
The people of Taiwan truly honored us by calling us heroes, but now it is time to return the honor.
I admire the strength that I see in all the people of Taiwan that have chosen to confront this disaster. You are the heroes.
Dean Tills
Fairfax, Virginia
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