A U.S. Marine and an American Hero

When I woke up on the morning of November 6, I felt that America had changed.  A new spirit was suddenly alive.  The day before I had been afraid my country would be forced to endure more years of living out the lies of “wokeism,” the ideology of the radical Left and the current government.  What’s bad about that?  The best and most concise description of wokeness I’ve found comes from professor of philosophy Edward Fesser who wrote:

In general, wokeness . . . is essentially about the radical subversion of normal human life in the name of a paranoid metaphysical delusion. It is fueled by a seething envy and resentment directed against the natural order of things.

The repercussions of trying to live out a “paranoid delusion” are widespread.  For those who resist the delusions, it can mean alienation from family and friends or the destruction of one’s professional life.  Basically, becoming a victim of cancel culture.  A woke oligarchy in charge of American institutions brings a multitude of threats — from having gender dysphoric children taken away from parents to the destruction of our military’s morale and readiness.           

The decisiveness of Trump’s victory signaled a huge shift in American politics, a mass retreat from wokeism, and I believe a big factor in that shift was plain old exhaustion with the lies and delusions foisted upon us by the radical, woke Left. 

When such a seismic shift occurs, it reverberates throughout America and then throughout the world.  It means it’s safe to acknowledge the truth again, and that goes right down to the local level.

There is not a clearer example of this than Daniel Penny’s recent acquittal on manslaughter charges by a New York jury.  After living through a period during which courage has been defined as going public with one’s homosexuality or gender dysphoria, real courage has been vindicated in a very public way.

The nature of the event that landed Penny in court was absolutely clear.  A courageous young man, a former U.S. Marine, protected people in a New York subway car from a dangerous, threatening psychotic.  Penny had no intention of killing that man — Jordan Neely — he only wanted to prevent him from carrying out the threats he was making. 

Penny should never have been indicted.  Had this happened in Texas, or most other places outside of New York, no Grand Jury would have returned an indictment.  Had Neely been white, no indictment would have been brought.  Only in the supercharged racial atmosphere evoked by the paranoid delusions of BLM politics could such a charge have gained traction.  If you haven’t done so, I urge you to watch the interview with Penny streaming now on Fox Nation here.

Penny recounts that Neely barged into the subway car and immediately began demanding things, then threatening to kill people, saying he was going to jail for life. Penny said that, in the subway car, there was a mother with a child in her arms, young school children, and others, and they were all scared.  He was scared as well.

Penny said he removed his ear buds and handed them along with his cell phone to someone sitting next to him and then grabbed Neely, pulling the man down to the floor on top of himself.  They struggled there for several minutes.  Penny said Neely was extremely strong and had amazing endurance.

Penny suspected Neely had been using a drug called K2.  According to information from American Addiction Centers, K2 is a synthetic cannabinoid, 660 times more potent than marijuana.  It is strongly associated with psychosis, agitation and irritability, and can lead to seizures, convulsions, stroke, elevated blood pressure, heart rhythm abnormalities, kidney failure, heart attack, and sometimes death.  The autopsy showed that Penny was correct, K2 was in his system and likely caused his death.

Daniel Penny is a talented, thoughtful, courageous, and highly moral young man.  He became a U.S. Marine because he wanted to serve his country, and he credits this decision for bringing out the best in himself.  He said: “I became who I am in the Marine Corps.  I met amazing people who brought out who I truly am.  “There’s this image of a Marine as a stone-faced jarhead, but you have to have compassion to be a competent Marine,” he said.

I asked retired Marine Corps Major General Bob Hollingsworth if he would expect every Marine to act the way Daniel Penny did: “Marines are taught to analyze a situation and if there is danger to take action.  I pray that every Marine would do that.”

Penny’s platoon sergeant testified at his trial, saying that all Marines are taught to uphold the Marine Corps values of “honor, courage and commitment.”  “If you don’t uphold those values, you don’t get promoted,” he said.  Penny was promoted to Sergeant (pay grade E-5) during his four-year service.

General Hollingsworth mentioned that he was also proud back in 2015 of U.S. Air Force Airman First Class Spencer Stone, Oregon National Guard Specialist Alek Skarlatos and college senior Anthony Sadler, all friends from childhood, who subdued a radical Islamic terrorist on a train in France.  Read about it here.

The three were on leave and taking a high-speed train from Amsterdam to Paris when they saw a man get on the train with an AK-47 and a handgun.  They immediately rushed to tackle him, disarmed him and prevented what could easily have been a massacre had they not acted.  Airman Stone was seriously injured by the terrorist who wielded a box cutter during the struggle.  In this case, the three plus a British man who assisted them, were hailed as heroes and congratulated by President Obama and European leaders.       

Neither New York nor the mainstream media were so discerning or kind to Daniel Penny.  Since leaving the Marine Corps he has been studying to become an architect.  He has always lived in or near New York City and he said the buildings and skyline have inspired him to study architecture as a career.  What a tragedy it would have been had this young man been convicted and his life destroyed by a lie. 

Penny said when asked why he chose to physically subdue Neely: 

If I didn’t do something the guilt I would have felt if someone did get hurt, if he did what he was threatening to do — I would never be able to live with myself — and I’ll take a million court appearances, people calling me names, people hating me, just to keep one of those people from getting hurt or killed.

General Hollingsworth praised that sentiment. “Daniel Penny has my respect,” he said.

The facts surrounding Penny’s actions were obvious to any clear thinking American citizen from the start, but BLM delusions have been so vigorously enforced since the summer of 2020’s George Floyd riots, that the Manhattan jury apparently had a tough time reaching its verdict.  I don’t believe those jurors could have felt empowered to act on the truth had President Trump not won a decisive victory on November 5.

In the end, Daniel Penny is an American hero — a man who could not sit by and let a psychotic man hurt others when it was within his power to prevent it.  The prosecutors denigrated his military training and experience.  In a rational society people should admire and encourage willingness to train and become a “compassionate warrior” — the world would be a far better place if every young man aspired to and trained for that ethic.

Is Penny bitter because his good deed resulted in his life being disrupted for more than a year, and weeks in court with the threat of being sent to prison?  Not at all.

People who were in the [subway] car remained on the platform and were thanking me.  Throughout the whole trial, I only cared about what those witnesses said.  I love America and that people have a right to protest, but they [protestors] didn’t have any of the facts.  They weren’t there.  The witnesses were there and they thanked me.  It’s disheartening that the prosecutor tried to discredit my military service and my awards.  I gave up four years of my life for no other reason than to serve my country.  It’s frustrating that there are people like this in our government, who do this [indict him for a good deed] who are supposed to be protecting people and our rights.

 Penny said he doesn’t want praise or fame.  “Friends and everyone I’ve met have been supportive of me.  It’s been very humbling and I’m grateful for that.  Throughout the whole process I had faith in the system and my team and in God.”

I’m reminded of the famous poem “If” by Rudyard Kipling.  The first verse:

If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise;

Daniel Penny kept his head during a tense situation.  He trusted in himself and in God when it seemed everyone was against him.  He was patient, he told the truth, and he did not return the hate of those who hated him.  And he refuses to consider himself a hero.  As Kipling says in the final lines of the poem: 

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,

And — which is more — you’ll be a man, my son!

 Daniel Penny is a man in the best sense — we should all be proud of him.

Breck Henderson is a retired Navy Reserve Officer, retired nuclear engineer for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and retired journalist for Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine.  He writes regularly on Substack, and crafts fiction in the form of short stories, plays and screenplays when he's not enjoying being a grandfather to eight grandchildren.