A true hero died today. A Polish woman by the name of Irena Sendler passed on in a hospital in Warsaw at the age of 98. She was, I suspect, the world's greatest living hero – and I'll bet that you've never even heard her name.

The era around the Second World War, perhaps by necessity, produced a lot of heroes. American fighting men like Audie Murphy, who received the Medal of Honor for risking his life to save 19 other soldiers in his unit. The list is long and distinguished but I'm left wondering if any of the over 200 CMH recipients from that era begin to hold a candle to the steely tenacity and dedication to a mission in the face of incredible odds of Mrs. Sendler.

This is her story. At the beginning of the war she was a low-level social service worker for the city of Warsaw. She was able to retain that position when the Nazis invaded Poland and took over the city. In keeping with their policies of the extermination of all Jews, the Germans established the "Warsaw Ghettos" which were walled-off sections of the city that served as holding camps from which Jews were systematically shipped to the labor and death camps throughout Poland and Germany.

Throughout the existence of the Warsaw Ghetto (which the Nazis burned down in 1943 – with people still interned there), the 29-year-old and several of her collaborators used her position as a social worker to gain access to the ghettos working tirelessly to smuggle infants and children out then placing them with foster families for the duration of the war. Only being able to smuggle out one or two at a time she managed to save an estimated 2500 children. Think about that for a minute. It's hard enough to smuggle one person away from the Nazis, let alone place them in some sort of foster care system in a Nazi-controlled country– but 2500 people, and only a few at a time? Amazing.

If caught, the common fate that would have befallen her and her family and friends was summary execution. She would certainly have known that, yet she regularly risked her life, day after day to save the Jewish children of Warsaw from extermination at the hands of the Nazis. When the Gestapo finally caught up with her she was interned and tortured at Pawiak Prison yet she never revealed any names of her accomplices nor the people she saved. She miraculously escaped from the prison and continued her work trying to save Jews.

If another person regularly risked as much for so long I'm not aware of them. Had Mrs. Sendler been an American soldier, her heroics would have warranted the highest accolades this country gives. Sadly, with the occupation of Poland by the Soviets after the war very few people were ever aware of her efforts.

I think it's a sad commentary on our values that Mrs. Sendler's efforts didn't receive more recognition. She was a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007 but as you know the committee, in their infinite wisdom, awarded that prize to former Vice President Al Gore for making a documentary on global warming.

I wrote Mr. Gore earlier today and asked him to review Mrs. Sendler's accomplishments and consider abdicating the prize to her. I'll let you know if he gets back to me.