My earliest memories include a man I never met: John Glenn.
He was a person I grew to greatly admire; not so much for his accomplishments, which were tremendous. But for what he came to represent. An American hero. A hero from my youth who stretched into my adulthood.
I’ve no doubt Col. Glenn had his faults and frailties, like any man. But I can ignore that. Friendship 7. A grainy B&W TV image. Nothing fires a kid’s imitation like a flaming rocket. Three times around the earth. A loosened heat shield the engineers feared would not hold. A lifetime in the limelight. A ride on the Space Shuttle. Hero.
God speed, indeed, John Glenn.
The Outdoor Notebook 