A mother and her 3-year-old child were being held captive inside their own home by an armed man. When a UPS driver arrived at the front door, the mother managed to slip him a desperate message without the man standing behind her realizing what she’d done. It happened in Missouri. The woman had been trapped for nearly 15 hours, her phone taken away and her child locked in a bedroom. She had already tried to escape, but the man forced her back inside. Then UPS driver Kenneth Belew arrived for a scheduled package pickup. With the armed man standing behind her, the mother handed Kenneth a cardboard box with two words secretly written on it: “Call 911.” Kenneth didn’t react. He calmly took the package, returned to his truck and drove down the street before calling police. When deputies arrived, the mother managed to escape, but her little child was still inside with the gunman. Officers began negotiating, and eventually the man surrendered. Both mother and child were safe. Kenneth was simply doing his job that morning. But his calm response to one desperate message helped save two lives. This is the kind of everyday hero who deserves to be remembered.

In 1943, the Gestapo finally caught Raymond Aubrac, one of France’s most wanted Resistance leaders. He was sentenced to death and his execution was only days away. At the same time his wife Lucie was six months pregnant with their second child. Most people in her position would have gone into hiding. Lucie decided to do something different. She got forged identity papers, created a cover story, and walked straight into the office of Klaus Barbie. She looked him in the eye and convinced him to grant her a final visit with her condemned husband. While she was inside she was secretly memorizing the positions of the guards, counting the minutes between patrols, and mapping the exact route the prison truck would take. On October 21, 1943, that prison truck rolled through the streets of Lyon. Lucie had spent weeks quietly assembling a team of Resistance fighters. When the truck reached the chosen spot her team struck. In the middle of the gunfire and chaos Raymond was pulled free. Lucie, visibly and unmistakably pregnant, had organized every detail of his liberation. Right after the rescue the couple went into deep hiding. A few weeks later Lucie gave birth to their daughter in a secret safe house while German forces searched for them. They managed to evade capture until the war ended. When liberation came Raymond became a celebrated engineer and entered public life to help rebuild France. Lucie became a respected historian, pouring decades into making sure the women of the French Resistance were never forgotten. Together they raised three children and grew old side by side. Their marriage lasted 64 years. Years later journalists asked Lucie what had compelled her to risk everything that October day. She did not hesitate. “He was my husband. What else would I do?”