On this day in 1969, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor.  Oscar Austin’s little sister wasn’t surprised. He’d always been a hero to her.   Their mother had been single, supporting her family with her job at a laundry. Little sister Lolla remembered the many ways in which Oscar would pitch in to help with his five sisters during those days.   “He cared about people. He respected elders,” Lolla said. “I don’t want to make him a saint, but how he

On this day in 1967, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Maybe none of James H. Monroe’s friends and family were surprised by his heroism?   “If there was such a thing, he was an ideal American boy,” the registrar at his old high school remembered. One of his junior high teachers agreed: “As a teacher for 31 years . . . he was one of the best.” In an interesting twist given today's holiday, this Medal recipient shares a name with a United State

On this day in 1922, a hero is born. William E. Metzger, Jr. would go on to become a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces, as well as a recipient of the Medal of Honor.   His sister would remember him as a kind, considerate soul.   “When he was a junior in high school,” she told a reporter, “one of his best friends died, and I think that had some kind of impact on him. He was different than a lot of young men. He was just sensitive about things. He was just a very considerate pe

On this day in 1968, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Nevertheless, Johnny Lee Canley wouldn’t receive that Medal until decades later.   Would you believe that he joined the Marines in 1953, when he was only 15 years old? He used his brother’s paperwork to get in.   On January 31, 1968, Canley was a Gunnery Sergeant serving with Alpha Company, First Battalion, First Marine Regiment. About 150 Marines from his company would help take back Huế

On this day in 2002, a World War II hero passes away . Rudolph B. Davila has been credited with saving the lives of 130 American soldiers. He received the Medal of Honor for his stunning bravery. He surely never expected to be a hero. He’d enlisted in the Army in 1939, largely because times were tough, and he needed a job. Davila’s heroism came on May 28, 1944, as Americans worked to break though German strongholds in the mountains surrounding Anzio, Italy. Then-Staff Sergean

On this day in 1922, a hero is born. William K. Nakamura would go on to serve in World War II as a member of the 442nd Regimental Combat Team.   That regiment, as you may know, was composed entirely of “Nisei.” They were Japanese-Americans who’d volunteered to fight for their country. They believed in America, even when some Americans weren’t sure if they could believe in their fellow citizens who just happened to be Japanese-Americans.   Indeed, the 442nd worked so hard and

On this day in 1923, a hero is born. William “Bill” McGee was an Indianapolis native and the third of five children. But was he an unexpected hero? After all, he didn’t rush to join the Army in the wake of Pearl Harbor. Instead, he was working as a butcher when he was drafted about a year later.   As did so many in those days, he married his sweetheart mere weeks before being deployed to Europe.   He was soon serving as a medical aidman with the 304th Infantry, 76th Infantry

On this day in 1969, a hero receives the Medal of Honor. The Vietnam veteran had rescued two downed aviators from a nearly impossible situation.   Then-Lt. Clyde E. Lassen (USN) simply refused to give up.   “We had a good idea our chances were about nil,” one of the downed aviators, John Burns, would later say. “If it hadn’t been for the people who were picking us up doing what they had done, it would have been nil,” the other aviator, John Holtzclaw, agreed.   Lassen’s heroi

On this day in 1954, a hero receives the Medal of Honor. Master Chief William R. Charette was one of five Navy corpsmen to receive the Medal for an action during the Korean War. He was the only one to receive his Medal in person.   Perhaps it was a miracle that he lived?  At one point, he’d deliberately positioned himself between a grenade and a wounded Marine. He bore the brunt of the blast, knowing that his wounded colleague could not survive another blow. But isn’t that wh

On this day in 1968, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Was Gary Wetzel an unlikely hero? As a teenager, he’d been in the habit of skipping school a lot. He joined the Army when he was 18 because it was “either . . . get a job or join the service, so I chose to join the service.”   Either way, the Army was blessed to have Wetzel. The young soldier went to Vietnam, where he was assigned to an ordnance outfit. But Wetzel wanted something more. H

On this day in 1945, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Isadore “Izzy” Jachman would take on two enemy tanks, single-handedly, forcing them into retreat.   Perhaps the incredible feat wasn’t as surprising as you might think. After all, the young staff sergeant had a personal stake in World War II: His family had fled rising antisemitism in Germany when he was just a toddler. Worse, he was surely worried about his relatives who’d remained behin

On this day in 1953, a Navy medic is awarded the Medal of Honor. Francis “Doc” Hammond had worked “feverishly” to save lives in Korea, one eyewitness to his action said, noting that Hammond was “the bravest man I saw out there that night . . . his actions were an inspiration to all of us.”   Hospitalman 3rd Class Hammond had proven that he was made of stern stuff, right from the get-go.   “On his very first patrol, one of his comrades at the head of the group stepped on a min

On this day in 1944, American soldiers should have been at home celebrating Christmas and New Year’s. Instead, they were fighting off one last German push during the Battle of the Bulge. One of these soldiers, Pfc. Melvin Biddle, was a normally soft-spoken man. He later even admitted to being scared during combat. “But I lost a lot of fear because I was out there and couldn’t let the troops down,” he told a journalist in 2008. He needed that attitude on December 23, as he fou

On this day in 1920, a future Medal of Honor recipient is born.  Lewis “Red” Millett is best known for leading the last major bayonet charge in U.S. Army history. He would receive a Medal for his action.   Was it a surprising outcome for a man who had once deserted the Army?   Of course, the reason he deserted was because he wanted to fight. He’d fled across the border and joined the Canadian Army, returning to the fold only after the United States entered World War II.   He’

On this day in 1941, the Japanese launch an attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor. You already know the basics of the story, but do you know about the 16 men who received Medals of Honor for their bravery so long ago?   Remember: Those boys woke up that morning thinking that the United States was NOT at war. But they leapt into action when called upon to do so.   USS West Virginia, engulfed in flames Some of the acts were relatively simple ones, like staying

On this day in 1944, a hero receives a Medal of Honor. Raymond “Wilkie” Wilkins once aced the written entry exam for West Point, but then he failed the physical requirements for that academy because his teeth were slightly crooked!   Undeterred, he enlisted and began his Army career as a private. From there, he was soon learning to fly at the Air Corps Technical School.   “He wanted to be Army; Army with a capital A,” a Portsmouth Star reporter wrote in 1945. “That is the cor

On this day in 1969, a hero receives the Medal of Honor. Webster Anderson once said that “[p]art of a man’s duty is to continue fighting until he can’t fight any more.”   He’d lived up to those words on October 15, 1967, during the Vietnam War.   Then-Staff Sergeant Anderson was serving with an artillery battery of the 101st Airborne Division in Quang Tin Province when his base was attacked. It was about 3:00 in the morning, and the Vietnamese had attacked with overwhelming n

On this day in 2009, a Medal of Honor recipient passes away. Alejandro Ruiz had perhaps been an unlikely hero? Indeed, he might never have been at Okinawa but for a somewhat humorous legal scrape that he got himself into.   A 20-year-old Ruiz had been transporting cows across Texas in 1944 when he made a spur-of-the-moment decision to propose to his girlfriend, Eliza Martinez. He was supposed to take the cows to Carlsbad, but he detoured to Barstow to find Eliza instead. Perh

On this day in 1948, a hero is born in Pennsylvania. William R. Prom would go on to become a Lance Corporal in the Marines and a Medal of Honor recipient. Prom may have been a hero, but he was also just an American boy who dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Or, if that didn’t work out, perhaps he could be a police officer. He put these dreams on hold when he signed up for the Marines late in 1967, just as his best friend was preparing to go to college. Prom soon

On this day in 1951, a hero engages in an action that would earn him the Medal of Honor. Pfc. Mack Jordan was just 22 years old when his “unflinching courage” stunned his fellow soldiers. He’d then been serving in Korea for just a few months. The Korean War has been called “the Forgotten War.” Many Americans are used to hearing about World War II and the Vietnam War, but they know very little about the conflict sandwiched in the middle. The heroes of that war thus receive rel