Alonzo “Mac” Lunsford’s impressive physical stature made him perfect for the role of protector from an early age, but it was the size of his intangible attributes that made him an American hero on Nov. 5 in Fort Hood, Texas.

Lunsford, a Rockingham native, was shot five times by Maj. Nidal Hasan, the final four shots coming as he acted to protect others from the gunman.

As Richmond County voters took to the polls to perform their civic duty on Tuesday, Lunsford discussed what made him go above and beyond the call of duty that day. He spoke with Mayor Gene McLaurin, who visited him in the hospital in Texas after the shooting.

From those first days in the hospital after the shooting throughout the road to recovery Lunsford is still traveling. He said the support he received from his hometown has recharged him.

“The best medication for a soldier is support from the community,” Lunsford said. “They don’t put that in an I.V. bag, and you can’t go buy it over a counter. The community keeps you going, and you don’t even have to live in the community. I was 19 hours and 43 minutes from the community, yet the support I received from the community kept me going.”

Lunsford said that as he lay in the hospital bed “green grass and pine trees” were all he thought of, but he was surprised at the level of concern those in Rockingham showed for him.

“I was shocked,” he said. “I graduated high school on June 6, 1986, and on June 7, 1986, I was gone. I moved to Washington, D.C. and went to college, and I still came home and visited and I always thought of this as my home but I wasn’t here ... The support of your home community speaks volumes, and it spoke volumes to me.”

The road to recovery has been a long one.

While Lunsford was walking unassisted within a month of sustaining his wounds, he is now stationed at Fort Bragg with the Wounded Troops Battalion, Charlie Company, and undergoes physical therapy and medical treatment until the late afternoon most days.

Lunsford said he also still faces “the mental challenges of reliving the 5th, but the bottom line, throughout all of this, is that I’m going to continue to fight.”

One aspect of his healing is sharing his experiences and resolve with youth groups. His future plans are to begin working with the children of deployed soldiers, and with youth groups in the community.

“I want to start at home, and then grow out from there,” Lunsford said.

“If you take this experience and use it to help others, in uniform or not, I just can’t say enough what a tremendous service you are doing for your fellow man,” McLaurin told Lunsford. “I believe, and I know from your background you must believe, that God puts each and every person here for a purpose, and this could be yours.”

Lunsford said it was his Richmond County roots - the lessons he learned on the gridiron and in the halls and classrooms of Richmond Senior High, at his summer jobs and church - that gave him the strength he exhibited in the face of mortal danger that day.

He credited his coaches and teachers, especially former football coach Ronnie Yarborough, with instilling in him “intestinal fortitude.”

“A lot of people don’t know what intestinal fortitude is, but I had to pull it up on the 5th and I had to pull it up in the hospital,” Lunsford said. “I didn’t know if I was going to wake up, so I thought about home, and about coming back here.”

He said his Richmond County roots have also prepared him for another step in his recovery - confronting Hasan when his trial begins in June.

Lunsford will be called on to testify during the court martial proceedings.

“The way I was raised here in Richmond County (prepared me for it),” he said. “We’re from a small town, with only one high school and no movie theater, but just happy people who speak to you when you pass by them. We don’t run away from things.”

He said he will conduct himself with honor and composure when he faces his attacker, the way he was taught to conduct himself here and in the military.

“I’m going to look him straight in his eye, and speak from the heart,” Lunsford said. “I won’t curse at him or cause a scene in the courtroom. I’ve told myself I’m not going to do that. I’m going to conduct myself in a way that is becoming, and the thing is that I want to show who the better man is. Me being in a public viewing situation ranting and raving won’t do that ... I look at it like this - he failed his mission. We’re still alive. The nation is still functioning. If anything, he pulled us closer together and made us want to fight more.”

While he has managed to keep his composure throughout the ordeal of being wounded and recovery, Lunsford said he still faces “the mental challenges of reliving the 5th.”

He refuses to let those challenges defeat him, though.

“Every single one of us that were wounded still want to continue to serve,” Lunsford said.

At another point in the interview, he explained his desire to continue with his life as it was before the shooting.

“I’m fighting for those 14 people that can’t fight now, and all the people who have died during the War on Terror. We’re going to keep on fighting this thing until its done and over with,” Lunsford illustrated why the American flag is oriented on the arms of soldiers in a way that looks backwards - there is no retreat. “These colors don’t run.”

Lunsford seems uncomfortable with being called a hero, and shares a different perspective from popular culture on what makes a role model or hero.

“They say we don’t have any role models anymore, but they’re talking about celebrities,” Lunsford said. “The real role models are the people that are there with you everyday - the people who may not have had a college education, but they put their kids through school; the lady in the neighborhood who is a mother to everybody and you can go to her and talk about anything or the gentleman that saw potential in you and gave you a summer job - those are your real heroes. That’s what we have in our community.”

Now back in North Carolina, Lunsford hopes to return the support he received from Richmond County through his passion for working with youths.

“That’s why we’re so proud of you, Mac,” McLaurin said as he discussed his plans. “We appreciate you coming home, and sharing your story, and we are also proud of our community and the way it supported you.”

“And I equally appreciate the support,” Lunsford answered.

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.