American Hero: 10-23-10

American Hero of the Week.

UNH Professor, Accomplished Author, and Bad Ass Mountain Man; Sam Southworth.

This American Crisis faithfuls may have tuned in for a brief interview with Sam on the October 18th show, featuring Sasha Feldman. You know, the guy who talked about the French resistance and all that great stuff.

Sam isn't just a military expert though, as we mentioned. When I was but a wee lad, Sam was a trip leader at the camp I got lost at most summers. For those of you who aren't sure what I mean by trip leader, I mean someone who is crazy enough to venture out into the wilderness with 10 or so 14 year olds in tow, and brave enough to hope he gets them all back alive.

When I was 14, Sam brought me and those 9 other 14 year olds up to a big ol' lake in Maine. After paddling around for several days, Sam could not help himself and decided to go off the beaten trail. We pulled up to the bank of some sort of ranger station, disembarked from our canoes, and set off up a logging trail into the mountains to find a secret lake, that supposedly was where Presidents and other important people would fly in to fish. I still don't think Sam actually knew where it was, just some sort of vague idea.

It took us most of the day but eventually we made it to Lake Parmachini, (or something like that) and I don't think I have ever experienced anything like it to this day. The lake was perfectly still, not even a ripple until we stepped in, and so clean that it was like looking across a sheet of glass. There was no sand on the banks, only rocks carried to this little alcove of the Appalachians by ancient glaciers.

See what I mean,
American Hero.

Sam regrets to inform me that he is blissfully non-present on the internet, but here is my favorite of his books, available for purchase on Amazon,

Great Raids

and a more cohesive bio,

Sam Southworth: The Legend

Keep your eyes peeled for the new Military Espionage book coming out soon, and good hunting.
-dan.