What does a meaningful self-sacrifice means? Does it mean giving up all your possessions, including your life, for the welfare of others? Over the course of world history, there were unsung heroes who gave their all for others. However, what made these 10 amazing self-sacrifices in the world inspiring were the resounding effects of their sacrifice that can still affect the people of today, years when these heroes were all gone.    Everyday, people make their own little self-sacrifices. A mother can sacrifice her life for her unborn child even if it entails a lot of pain that will eventually lead to her death. Jesus Christ is the ultimate example of a great self-sacrifice where He died for the remissions of sins, which still resonates with all the Christians worldwide. Though this may be hard to replicate, here is the list of amazing self-sacrifices in the world that still inspires people that there is still good in everyone.

10. Anthony L. Krotiak

Photo Source: http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=8114583

A United States Army Soldier, he became a recipient of the military’s decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions during World War II. He was an acting squad leader and while directing his men on a newly-won position on Hill B, a group of Japanese soldiers threw a grenade in the center of their group. Pushing his comrades aside, he jammed the grenade to the earth with his rifle, and threw himself over it to protect his comrades.

9. Vincent Coleman

PhotoSource:http://museum.gov.ns.ca/mmanew/en/home/whattoseedo/halifaxexplosion/vincentcolemanandthehalifaxexplosion.aspx

A hero of the Halifax tragedy, he went to work on December 6, 1917 as a Railway Dispatcher for Halifax’s North End station As he relieved the night dispatcher at the telegraph, there was a collision and French munitions ship Mont-Blanc had caught fire and about to explode. Worried about the incoming Passenger Train No. 10 and its occupants; he delivered his famous telegraph message: “Hold up the train. Ammunition ship afire in harbor making for Pier 6 and will explode. Guess this will be my last message. Good-bye boys.”

8. Ensign Andrew L. Foreman

Photo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Foreman_(DE-633)

During the Battle of Tassafaronga on November 30, 1942 between the United States Navy and the Imperial Japanese Navy warships during the Guadalcanal campaign, he remained at his station to help save his ship until asphyxiated by gas generated by the explosion. Posthumously awarded the Navy Cross for his heroic self-sacrifice, the USS Foreman (DE-633), a Buckley-class destroyer escort of the US Navy was named after him.

7. Francois Charles Hugues Laurent Poqueville

Photo Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fran%C3%A7ois_Pouqueville.jpg

A French diplomat, explorer, writer and historian; he became a prominent architect of the Philhellenism movement throughout Europe. He also contributed greatly to the liberation of the Greeks and the rebirth of the Greek nation during the Greek War of Independence in 1821 by giving shelter in the French consulate to a number of refugees while the Turkish repression was raging at the peril of his own life. He became a great example on how the French consuls should fulfill their duties.

6. Nine Brothers Kherkheulidtze

Photo Source: http://www.pravoslavie.ru/english/7305.htm

 When Shah Abbas I of Persia marched his largest army towards Georgia’s eastern provinces of Kartli and Kakheti; the safety of the motherland was placed on the 20,000 Georgian Army with the Nine Brothers Kherkheulidtze bearing the Georgian flag, as they fought with courage and fortitude. After the nine banner-bearing brothers were killed, it fell to their youngest brother and to their sister who was also killed. However, it was raised up again by their mother as a symbol of Georgian invincibility, though she was also killed. The nine brothers and their mother and sister were canonized by the Georgian Orthodox Church along with thousands martyrs of the Battle of Marabda.

5. Gomburza

Photo Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/diamonds_in_the_soles_of_her_shoes/8099322146/

This was the acronym denoting the surnames of the Filipino priests Mariano Gomez, Jose Apolonio Burgos and Jacinto Zamora who were executed on February 17, 1872 by the Spanish colonial authorities on charges of subversion arising from the 1872 Cavite Mutiny. This has a profound effect on the Filipinos and what triggered the revolution that ended the 300-plus years of Spanish colonial rule in the country. The country’s national hero, Jose Rizal, dedicated his novel ‘El Filibusterismo’ to their memory.

4. Mormon Handcart Pioneers

Photo Source: http://www.mormonoutreach.org/topics/The_Mormon_Handcart_Disaster.htm

The migration of the members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the LDS Church, from 1856 to 1860 was fraught with hardships and sufferings as they traveled using handcarts to travel their belonging in all kinds of weather from Iowa and Nebraska to Utah. Lacking funds for full-ox teams, the 3,000 pioneers from Wales, England, Scandinavia, and Scotland went on a trek that resulted in disaster for two companies that were caught in heavy snow and extreme temperature in Wyoming, where 210 out of the 980 pioneers in the two companies died along the way. Their contributions were honored during the Pioneer Day.

3. Robert Bailey

PhotoSource: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/18/japan-earthquake-tsunami-heroes_n_837411.html#s254947&title=Teacher_Saves_Kids

A British teacher in Japan, he was not even supposed to be in school when the great tsunami hit Japan on March 11. However, when the ground started to shake and the emergency system in the coastal town of Ofunato blared commanding them to “Head for the hills” as the massive tsunami was on its way, he whisked all his 42 students to safety atop a nearby hill with only 8 minutes to run for their lives.

2. John McLoughlin and William Jimero

Photo Source: http://911research.wtc7.net/reviews/world_trade_center/mcloughlin_jimeno.html

The 9/11 tragedy has not only led to the death of the victims of the Twin Towers, but also for a great number of casualties coming from the New York police force, fire fighters and volunteers. This event has been one of those unfortunate events where the rescuers need to be rescued themselves. Notable among them were John McLoughlin and William Jimero, the last two men out of the rubble of the World Trade Center who survived the ordeal of being buried alive for 13 hours.

1. Mother Theresa

Photo Source: http://egnorance.blogspot.com/2012/09/mother-theresa-and-psalms.html

A recipient of numerous honors including the 1979 Nobel Peace Prize, Anjeze Gonxhe Bojaxhiu might have been born an Albanian on August 26, 1910, but she considered India her home and the poorest of the poor her family. Leaving her home at 18 to join the convent, where she never saw her mother and sister again; she began her missionary work in 1948 by leaving the comforts of the convent and founded the Missionaries of Charity to care for the sick, especially those with HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and leprosy; and run orphanages and schools for poor children