"These were the people who had the grit and mental fortitude to hold throughout all of the FUD and crashes."

I agree 100%.

Sure, some people were in the right place at the right time, but how many of these early holders bailed out at $100?

Can you imagine if you mined a 1000-2000 btc in the early days with your GPU at home, and you login one day into your Mt.Gox account and see the BTC exchange rate sitting at $100?

The temptation to take profit would have been massive!!