World Net Daily ... We are experiencing a time when words, long having an understood meaning, are being replaced by words more politically correct (PC). But one word PC activists seek to keep while expanding its meaning is "hero." 

"Hero" is a title participants in today's rioting in various American cities are, undeservedly, seeking to be grouped. 

We can never becloud the true meaning of hero with that of non-hero for it denigrates those whose selfless acts have done so much to enrich life for their fellow man.

On Oct. 3, we lost one of those true heroes. 

Ambassador Richard Schifter, 97, had devoted his lifetime to leaving us with a better world than the one he inherited – one bringing him tremendous tragedy in his early years.

Born in Austria before Europe would be torn apart by World War II, Schifter was fortunate to have parents who foresaw the anti-Semitic tsunami coming and took action to send their son, then 15, to America (alone) in 1938. 

Schifter would never see his parents again. He would be the only member of his family to escape the Holocaust – the only evidence remaining of their existence in the ashes of a concentration camp's crematorium.

But his family instilled in Schifter a value for human life that would guide him for the rest of his life. 

Joining the U.S. Army in 1943, he would soon discover the extent to which Nazi Germany disregarded this value. Speaking German, Schifter became part of a famous military intelligence unit, made up mostly of immigrants to the U.S. who had fled Nazi persecution, primarily used to interrogate prisoners on the front lines and for counter-intelligence purposes in Europe. 

Trained at Fort Ritchie in Maryland, they were dubbed the "Ritchie Boys." Their language skills and knowledge of German culture provided them with a good sense as to whether prisoners were being truthful or not.

The Ritchie Boys became a critical asset for the Allies. 

After the D-Day landing, Schifter's unit arrived to pursue various clandestine operations. Doing so provided U.S. ground commanders with invaluable information. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton – one of the most successful combat generals in U.S. history – acknowledged it was the Ritchie Boys who provided him with advanced warning of the German Bulge offensive.

While the Ritchie Boys were credited with helping bring an early end to the war, with it, Schifter – interrogating German soldiers and citizens – learned about the horrors of the Holocaust, recognizing the reality his own family had failed to survive.

Family tragedy opens two roads for those suffering such a loss – a low road, where one wallows in tragedy, doing little good for self or others, and a high road, where one embarks upon a journey to help others. For Schifter, it was the latter.

Honorably discharged from the Army in 1948, Schifter went on to graduate from Yale Law School. He soon joined a prestigious Washington, D.C., law firm helping Native Americans in disputes against the U.S. government.

Establishing a high profile as a respected attorney, Schifter joined the U.S. government, serving under three presidents in positions including assistant secretary of state for human rights and humanitarian affairs and deputy United States representative to the United Nations Security Council. He became a champion of human rights and defender of post-World War II-created Israel.

Schifter, who served both Democratic and Republican presidents, was recognized as truly a talented negotiator motivated by universal humanity, not politics.

Such government service armed Schifter with tremendous knowledge on how the U.N. functioned to minimize U.S. interests and how various countries, like the Soviet Union and Cuba, used this to their advantage. 

Schifter turned his focus to a group of victims within the Soviet Union who were suffering tremendously under the authoritarian reigns of communism. These were the "refuseniks" – Soviet citizens, especially Jews, who were refused permission by Moscow to emigrate. 

As the Kremlin sought to keep them in the dark shadows, hidden from world view, Schifter sought to expose this tactic to the light of day. Eventually, Soviet leaders learned it was not worth the international backlash they received to keep the refuseniks caged and muzzled, and allowed them to emigrate.

Most telling as to the respect and admiration refuseniks had for Schifter was that among the very first to comment on his death was one of the most famous of that group, author Natan Sharansky. It was Schifter's commitment to freeing the refuseniks that allowed Sharansky to leave the Soviet Union. Sharansky shared the following about Schifter...

..."We used to call him 'the dentist'...because he spent so much of his time in an effort plucking Jews from the jaws of the Soviet Union, one refusenik at a time. 

...Richard made sure that the lists of refuseniks which the various Jewish organization prepared were always on the table at every negotiation between America and the Soviet Union, and personally kept in touch with many refuseniks and their families. May his memory be a blessing."

Schifter was known to have a photographic memory, which made him a tough negotiator. Impressively, it gave him an ability to name the leaders of all U.N. member states and the form of government to which each adhered.

After the Soviet Union's collapse, a good friend of Schifter's, knowledgeable about his contributions, observed that credit for its demise fell to three people. While President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II were immediately recognized, it would take history a little longer to recognize Schifter's quiet, behind-the-scenes contributions. 

Had he been asked while alive whether he was a hero in all this, being a most humble man, Schifter would have responded, "No, but I served in the company of men who were." That was the kind of person he was – an unsung hero among heroes.

The timing of Schifter's death is sad. 

A man who dedicated his life to human rights and a better America left us at a time the country is fighting "the most lethal pandemic in 100 years, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression and the worst racial crisis since the 1960s." For those who knew Schifter, there is but one logical reason for this: unable to resolve things by Himself, God is in need of Schifter's counsel.

May He reward a tremendous hero among mortal men.