Billy Don't Be a Hero US version sold over three and a half million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in June 1974. Donaldson and the Heywoods's version was a massive hit in Latin America and Japan as well, but it remained largely unknown elsewhere as of late July 2017. "Billboard" ranked it as the No. 21 song for 1974. Despite the song's popularity, it was poorly received, and it was voted No. 8 on "Rolling Stone" magazine's readers' poll of "10 Worst Songs of the 1970s." The song is mentioned as having played on K-Billy's "Super Sounds of the '70s
George A. Hero was twenty he joined the cotton firm Robinson and Hero, and later owned and operated the business under his own name. In 1889 Lehman, Stern and Company hired him to run its cotton futures department. When the company incorporated in 1896, he became its vice president. Hero retired from the cotton business in 1912. He owned a derelict plantation on the west bank of the Mississippi River. Canals dug there during the early 19th century in order to grow sugar and cotton had degraded after the Civil War, and the swampy land was almost worthless. Hero's neighbors showed no interest