He Would Have Been 100 This Year: A son’s Tribute to his Late Father’s Courage

THE COURAGE TO RISK EVERYTHING

Throughout history, ordinary individuals have made extraordinary choices to risk their lives for others, embodying the highest ideals of human courage and selflessness. These acts of heroism often occur in split seconds, when moral clarity cuts through fear and someone decides that saving others matters more than personal safety.

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Private First Class Ivan E. Perlman exemplified this heroic spirit during the Battle of Iwo Jima on March 1, 1945. When a flare dropped from a plane ignited an ammunition dump, spreading fire toward a critical battery communication area during an active enemy artillery barrage, most would have sought cover. Instead, Perlman made a different choice. He rushed directly through hostile fire and exploding ammunition to remove an endangered vehicle, preventing potential catastrophic damage and saving lives. For this act of “heroic achievement,” he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Combat “V.”

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My beloved father’s story reflects a pattern seen across professions and circumstances: the firefighter who enters a burning building, the civilian who pulls a stranger from a car wreck, the soldier who shields comrades from danger. These individuals share a common thread, they see beyond their own preservation to a higher duty.

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What drives such courage? Often, it’s not the absence of fear but the presence of something stronger: love for others, commitment to duty, or an innate understanding that some things transcend self-preservation. These heroes rarely see themselves as extraordinary; they simply respond to what their conscience demands.

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Private Perlman’s courage on Iwo Jima reminds us that heroism isn’t reserved for the famous or powerful. It emerges from ordinary people who, when faced with the choice between safety and service, choose to serve. Their legacy lives on, inspiring future generations to answer the call when others need saving most.

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My father’s example of selfless service in the face of danger was one of the significant reasons I established Destination Peace, carrying forward his commitment to protecting and serving others not through battlefield heroics, but through the vital work of building understanding and preventing conflict before it takes the future away from those who end up paying the ultimate sacrifice.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​