From Hidden Brain Media, I'm Shankar Vedantam.

This is My Unsung Hero, stories where one person reached out to help another in a time of need.

My unsung hero is the kind stranger who helped me get to my grandfather's funeral.

And he just says, today, you, tomorrow me.

And I never saw. Thank you. Thank you very much for changing my life.

Today's story comes from Elaine Batchelor. In 1980, Elaine embarked on a year of solo backpacking across Europe. She was 22 years old

and had never traveled by herself before. A few months into her trip, she got on a night train

from what was then known as Yugoslavia. So I sat down on a bench and after about an hour or so, two young men came and pulled me up

by my arm and at first I thought I must be in the wrong seat.

Then I realized that they were trying to harm me and pull me to the back of a train.

Almost immediately, two older men stood up and there was some physical altercation with

the younger man that had grabbed my arm, and these two older men took me to the back of the train, sat me on a bench,

and proceeded to stand guard over me for almost 12 hours. They didn't know any English and it was

just looking into each other's eyes that I knew I was safe.

After those 12 hours, I got off the train in Greece

and was very thankful that these two men had protected me in a time when I needed it the most.

If I saw these two men today, I would thank them

for doing what good humans do in moments like that, take care and protect each other.

And that's exactly what they did on that night train in 1980.

Listener Elaine Bachelor of Knoxville, Tennessee.

Do you have your own story of an unsung hero, someone who noticed when you were struggling and went out of their way to help?

We're looking for stories of one person and one moment when someone showed you unusual generosity.

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