On August 3, 1944, during the battle to retake Guam in the Pacific Theater of World War II, Private First Class Frank Witek of the 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 3rd Marine Division, faced a deadly ambush that could have annihilated his entire platoon. As enemy fire erupted from well-concealed Japanese…
On June 14, 1944, during the Italian Campaign of World War II, Staff Sergeant Homer Wise of the U.S. Army's 36th Infantry Division displayed a level of courage that changed the course of a deadly engagement. As his platoon was pinned down by relentless enemy fire and flanked on both…
On March 2, 1968, in Vietnam, Specialist Four Nicholas Cutinha was serving as a machine gunner with Company C, 4th Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division when his unit was ambushed by a battalion-sized enemy force using small arms, mortars, RPGs, and automatic weapons. In the opening moments, chaos…
On April 6, 2013, deep in the Sono Valley of Kunar Province, Afghanistan, Staff Sergeant Christopher Baradat, an Air Force combat controller, displayed extraordinary heroism while attached to a U.S. Special Forces quick reaction force. Their mission: relieve a coalition unit pinned down by over 100 heavily armed Taliban and…
On October 25, 1944, during the Battle off Samar, Commander Ernest E. Evans, commanding officer of the USS Johnston, led his destroyer into one of the most one-sided naval engagements in U.S. history and changed the course of the battle. Outnumbered and outgunned by a massive Japanese fleet, including battleships,…
Colonel Stanley Hughes stands alone in Marine Corps history—the only Marine awarded the Navy Cross in both World War II and the Vietnam War. On January 4, 1944, at Cape Gloucester, then–1st Lieutenant Stanley Hughes was leading a machine gun platoon with the 3rd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division…
The Greatest Military Con in History? Operation Fortitude was the brilliant deception plan that fooled Hitler and protected the D-Day invasion, saving countless lives. In 1944, the Allies created a massive, non-existent army—complete with inflatable tanks, dummy aircraft, and even General George S. Patton as its fake commander—to convince the…
On May 8, 1970, during the Vietnam War, Lance Corporal Miguel Keith was serving as a machine gunner with Combined Action Platoon 1-3-2 when a massive enemy ground assault hit their position. Gravely wounded in the opening moments of the attack, he could have stayed down. But he didn’t. Instead,…
On August 19, 1967, during the Vietnam War, Captain Stephen Pless—a helicopter gunship pilot with Marine Observation Squadron 6—heard a chilling radio call: four American soldiers were about to be overrun on a beach. Pless diverted immediately. What he saw was horrifying—30 to 50 Viet Cong were swarming the wounded…
On November 9, 1967, First Lieutenant James Taylor displayed fearless heroism in Vietnam—saving lives again and again under relentless enemy fire. During a fierce assault by the 1st Squadron, 1st Cavalry, Americal Division, LT Taylor’s unit was ambushed by recoilless rifles, mortars, and automatic weapons. When an armored cavalry vehicle…
On April 25, 1968, during the Vietnam War, 1LT James Sprayberry of Company D, 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division, led a daring nighttime rescue mission that defied impossible odds. After his company commander and many others were pinned down by intense enemy fire and surrounded by bunkers, a…
Between September 11 and 14, 1970, Sergeant Gary Rose, a Special Forces combat medic with the 5th Special Forces Group, fought through unrelenting fire to save the lives of his wounded brothers-in-arms during Operation Tailwind. Deep in enemy-controlled territory in Laos, a company-sized unit came under heavy attack from a…
On July 11, 1969, during a fierce battle in Vietnam, Specialist 4 Gordon Roberts of Company B, 1st Battalion, 506th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, faced a mission that was on the verge of collapse. His platoon was halted by intense automatic-weapons and grenade fire from fortified bunkers perched on higher…
On June 19, 1966, First Lieutenant Ronald Ray, a platoon leader with Company A, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division, led a heroic rescue mission during intense combat in Vietnam. After one of his patrols was ambushed by a reinforced Viet Cong company, Lt. Ray organized a reaction force…
On May 6, 1968, during intense combat in Vietnam, Specialist Four Robert Patterson of the 2nd Squadron, 17th Cavalry, 101st Airborne Division, demonstrated extraordinary courage during an assault on a heavily fortified North Vietnamese Army position. As his platoon’s lead squad was pinned down by automatic weapons and RPG fire,…
From May 13 to 15, 1969, James McCloughan, then a Private First Class and combat medic, distinguished himself in one of the most intense and harrowing battles of the Vietnam War. Serving with Charlie Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, McCloughan repeatedly risked—and nearly gave—his life…
On November 14, 1965, during the brutal Battle of Ia Drang—the first major engagement between U.S. troops and North Vietnamese forces—Second Lieutenant Walter Marm Jr. of the 1st Cavalry Division displayed extraordinary heroism under fire. His unit was advancing through a deadly valley in Vietnam to rescue a surrounded American…
On December 15, 1967, during combat operations in Vietnam, Specialist Four Allen J. Lynch was serving as a radio telephone operator with Company D, 1st Battalion, 12th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Division when his unit came under attack by a numerically superior enemy force. From the front lines, Lynch quickly relayed…
Gary Littrell, then a Sergeant First Class, earned the Medal of Honor for one of the most extraordinary displays of endurance and leadership during the Vietnam War. On April 4, 1970, while serving as a Light Weapons Infantry Adviser to the 23rd Battalion, 2nd Ranger Group of the ARVN, his…
On January 6, 1969, during a fierce battle in Vietnam, Private First Class Don Jenkins of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, displayed unmatched bravery under fire. Caught in a deadly enemy crossfire, Jenkins rushed to an exposed position and delivered suppressive machine-gun fire. When his weapon…
On January 6, 1969, during a fierce battle in Vietnam, Private First Class Don Jenkins of Company A, 2nd Battalion, 39th Infantry, 9th Infantry Division, displayed unmatched bravery under fire. Caught in a deadly enemy crossfire, Jenkins rushed to an exposed position and delivered suppressive machine-gun fire. When his weapon…
On March 9, 1968, in Vietnam, First Lieutenant Jack Jacobs was serving as an assistant battalion adviser to the 9th Infantry Division of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam when his unit came under devastating enemy fire from a fortified Viet Cong force. Wounded by mortar fragments and nearly…
On August 8, 2012, during a combat patrol in Kunar Province, Afghanistan, Captain Florent Groberg—a French-born officer and Personal Security Detachment Commander—placed himself between a group of senior U.S. and Afghan leaders and a suspected suicide bomber. Without hesitation, Groberg identified the threat, physically engaged the attacker, and pushed him…
On October 25, 2007, in Afghanistan, Specialist Salvatore Giunta was serving as a team leader with Company B, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment. That day, he and his team were navigating difficult terrain when they were suddenly ambushed by a well-armed and coordinated insurgent force. Under intense enemy fire, Specialist…