Heroes Trivia Quiz

Answer: Saved a man from drowning

Seventeen year old Ernestine was in a rowboat with a friend, just off the beach at North Weymouth, near Boston, Massachusetts, when a man named Harry Smith got into trouble whilst swimming near a floating dock. Miss Atwood, who was wearing her bathing costume, dived into the water to give assistance, and found the man trapped beneath the dock.

She pulled him out to the point where others could assist in getting him out of the water and reviving him. When one remembers that a 1904 swimming costume, especially for a woman, was a cumbersome, unstreamlined garment, the act becomes even more impressive.

Answer: Robert F. Scott

Scott's party was returning from having been beaten to the South Pole by the Norwegian expedition led by Amundsen, when Oates realised that his own injuries and weakness were slowing down Scott and the others. Despite his sacrifice, recorded by Scott in documents found with his body, neither Scott nor any of his companions survived to reach base.

The image of a falcon was meant to lead you to Scott via his middle name: Robert Falcon Scott.

Answer: Shovel

Known as "Trooper Potts" and "The Hero with the Shovel", Frederick William Owen Potts received the Victoria Cross for dragging the wounded Arthur Andrews more than 600 yards under fire, using a shovel attached to Andrews' equipment as a sort of sledge. Potts was already a hero, having saved a small boy from drowning in the Thames a year before the war began.

In 2015 a memorial depicting Potts dragging Andrews to safety was dedicated in their hometown of Reading, Berkshire.

Answer: A wild animal

The youngsters, Doreen (11) and Tony (8), had gone to round up their ponies along a trail near Cowichan Lake on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada when they were attacked by a type of wildcat known as a cougar. Using his riding crop Tony beat the cat about the head until it left off its attack on Doreen to go after the boy. Doreen then came to Tony's aid using her bare hands to fight off the animal. Eventually something startled the beast and the children were able to reach safety, though both were badly injured.

Both children received the Albert Medal for their courageous acts. Doreen was later able to exchange her medal for the George Cross, under a Royal Warrant published in 1971. Because Tony had died in an army training exercise in 1930, he was not eligible for this exchange, and remained an Albert Medallist.

Answer: Defusing unexploded bombs

Defusing unexploded bombs has led to the award of a number of George Crosses, many of them posthumously. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Blaney chose to work alone on these delicate monsters, minimizing the death toll should the bomb explode. His citation mentions three separate incidents between September and December 1940 during which Blaney disarmed (or attempted to disarm) bombs which had not detonated upon falling. The attempt on 13 December was unsuccessful, and Blaney did not survive.

The photo shows deliberately preserved bomb damage on a wall of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, England.

Answer: Desmond Doss

A Seventh Day Adventist who refused to carry a weapon, Doss nonetheless volunteered to serve as a medic, and did so with distinction, receiving the Medal of Honor for his work on Okinawa in 1945.

The incorrect choices were all heroes in their own right, but none were medics, nor did they serve on Okinawa.

The image of a hacksaw is meant to bring to mind the title of the movie, "Hacksaw Ridge".

Answer: No

An engine fire started shortly after takeoff, and the Boeing 707 in which Miss Harrison was serving was forced to make an emergency landing back at Heathrow. A technical problem with the evacuation slide meant that she was left alone to help passengers escape from the burning aircraft, the steward having had to go down the slide to disentangle it.

Although she could have saved herself, Miss Harrison remained on board to try to help an elderly passenger, and both perished.

Answer: Attempting to save the life of a fellow driver during a race

British driver Roger Williamson was competing in only his second Grand Prix, the 1973 Dutch GP at Zandvoort, when something happened (possibly a blown tyre) that caused his car to go out of control, eventually landing upside down and on fire with the driver trapped inside. Only David Purley, also in his first season of Formula 1, stopped to try to help, even trying to right the car single-handed. It is said that the other drivers were unaware of Williamson's plight, and thought Purley was trying to get his own car back on the track. David Purley received the George Medal for his unsuccessful attempts to save his fellow Briton. Having survived his motor racing career, Purley took up aerobatic flying and died off Bognor Regis in 1985 after crashing his biplane.

The image shows Zandvoort circuit, though with quite different vehicles than those driven by Purley and Williamson.

Answer: Model

Pan Am Flight 73 was hijacked on the ground at Karachi Airport, Pakistan by four members of the Abu Nidal Organisation, whose demands included the freeing of Palestinian detainees in Cyprus. They were targeting American passengers, and Bhanot and her cabin crew managed to hide or dispose of a number of passports to disguise the nationalities of the passengers. When the hijackers later opened fire, Neerja gave her life when shielding some children from the bullets.

Her career as a model, which she pursued at the same time as her airline career, is meant to be suggested by the image of model airplanes. In 2016 an Indian movie, "Neerja", was released in time for the 30th anniversary of her sacrifice.

Answer: Police Department

The two awards which Constable Cheverie has received are the two highest civilian awards in the Canadian awards structure, and entitle him to the post-nominal letters CV, SC. Both awards were created in 1972, and while over 400 people can put SC after their names, Cheverie's CV was only the 15th awarded (in 1988) and even fewer have been awarded since that time. His courage can not be disputed, as in one case he knew the burning house contained oxygen tanks, and in the other he returned to the blaze multiple times to ensure that all the children were safely out.

The image is meant to suggest his rank as a police constable.