Brave Hearts

Author(s): Kumarpal Desai
Publisher: Eye Care Foundation

Page 73

The Brave Hearts
minutes. Glen Cunningham's achievements created new hopes the world over.
The credit for all this goes to Glen Cunningham who had lost all the fingers on his left foot at the age of 8 and about whom it was feared that he would not be able even to walk again. The records he had established were a challenge to participants the world over for a long time to come. In addition to that, many prominent runners, the world over adopted the style which Glen used to take part in the track events and the way he used to hasten the speed in the last leg of the running events.
In studies too as in sports, Glen Cunningham recorded a few significant achievements. He obtained M.A. and Ph.D. degrees and held the post of a director in the University. In 1939, during the course of the Second World War, he joined the U.S. army and fought for his country for seven long years as a soldier at the battle front
On being relieved from the armed forces, he purchased a big farm in his native state in America and out of its income opened an abode for the physically challenged in which 8000 such children were trained for making themselves independent and self-reliant.
Glen Cunningham thus became an ideal for others to emulate.