Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman … superheroes have lined up in recent days to praise the courage of a six-year-old boy who was mauled while saving his little sister from a dog aᴛᴛᴀᴄᴋ.
“You’re a hero, what you did was so brave, so selfless, your sister is so lucky to have you as a big brother,” said Chris Evans, the actor who player
Bridger Walker, who lives in the western US state of Wyoming, put himself between a German Shepherd mix and his little sister on Jul 9 as the dog was about to attack the four-year-old girl.
But Bridger, who was 6 at the time and left needing 90 stitches to fix the damage on his face, simply reasoned his actions with, “If someone had to .d.i.e, I thought it should be me.”
His story went viral on US social media and a number of celebrities respond.
A year later, Bridger’s dad, Robert Walker, tells PEOPLE his son still stands by those words.
“My wife and I asked him, ‘Do you want it to go away?’ And he said, ‘I don’t want it to go all the way away,’” the father of five says. “Bridger views his scar as something to be proud of, but he also doesn’t see it as being representative of his brave act. He just perceives it as, ‘I was a brother and that’s what brothers do.’ It’s a reminder that his sister didn’t get hurt and that she is okay.”
“It almost bothers him sometimes when he’s called a hero, because he [thinks], ‘Maybe I could have done more to shield her,’” he sweetly adds of his now 7-year-old son.