Category: Military

President Theodore Roosevelt called Sergeant Henry Johnson one of the “five bravest Americans” of World War I.Johnson and his buddy Needham Roberts were on sentry duty. Their regiment had been assigned to help reinforce the 4th French Army. It was 2 AM in their trench in the Argonne Forrest, when the two men suddenly came under fire from enemy snipers. Then they heard the sound of barbed wire being cut. Grenades were lobbed in both directions, and Roberts was severely wounded by an explosion. Out of grenades, Johnson fired his rifle, but took hits in his hands and face.  Enemy soldiers were now in the trench, at least a dozen.Then his rifle jammed, so Johnson used it as a club, hitting enemy troops until his stock shattered.  He was suddenly hit in the head, and collapsed. Shot multiple times and battered to the ground, Johnson could have quit fighting, but he saw the enemy trying to drag Roberts away as a prisoner.Leaping up, Johnson pulled his knife and charged back into the fray. This was no ordinary knife, but a bolo: thirty inches of sharp, curved blade. The American took down two more of the enemy before he was again shot in the arm.Johnson didn’t falter. Instead, he took out another enemy soldier.  That was enough for the infiltrators, and the ones still moving fled back to their own lines.Johnson had been shot, beaten, stabbed and taken shrapnel from grenades, receiving nearly two dozen serious wounds. For his bravery, he was awarded the highest French Military honor, the Croix Du Guerre. He also earned the nickname, “Black Death.” Johnson was a member of the Harlem Hellfighters, an African American unit from New York. And as it is with so many American soldiers, his son followed him a generation later into World War II, as a member of the Tuskegee Airmen.

 

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Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez was born in Cuero, Texas. He grew up and joined the National Guard, then the US Army. And earned the Medal of Honor by doing the impossible, as you will see. After assignment to 82nd Airborne, Benavidez qualified for Special Forces, also known as Green Berets. He went to Vietnam in 1965, stepped on a mine, and woke up in a hospital, paralyzed from the waist down. He was to be discharged, but on his own he worked himself back to standing and walking, and nine months later was sent back to the States for full recovery and qualifications. In 1968, he returned to Vietnam, and again did the impossible, which earned him the Medal of Honor. Waiting for an assignment, he heard a voice over an operations radio, “Get us out of here!  Get us out of here!”  Benavidez ran to a chopper that was coming in.  When it landed, he unstrapped the door gunner who was slumped over his weapon, and replaced him. It was one of three helicopters that had already tried and failed to extract the team that was under fire. When Benavidez arrived, he realized all the team members were either wounded or dead. He jumped out and ran to the team’s position, getting wounded in his leg, face and head. Still, he took charge of the situation, repositioning the wounded men, directing fire, and helping to load the dead and wounded. Once all the men were loaded, he ran back to recover classified documents. He was then severely wounded in the abdomen and got grenade fragments in his back. At the same time, the helicopter pilot was killed and the chopper crashed. Somehow Benavidez got to the wreckage, helped the wounded out and gathered them into a defensive perimeter. He called in airstrikes and directed fire from helicopter gunships. Trained also as a medic, he administered first aid to the men, and was wounded again doing so. Finally, another chopper landed. Benavidez helped load the wounded, getting clubbed in the jaw by enemy who had come up on him. Fighting his way through, he managed to make a final trip to gather up all classified material, and help the remaining dead and wounded on board. Only then did he board. Later pulled off the helicopter, he was put aside as dead, and was being inserted into a body bag. Blood had dried his eyes shut, and his jaw was injured so he could not speak. One of his buddies made a doctor listen for a heartbeat. Benavidez said, “When I felt that hand on my chest, I made the luckiest shot I ever made in my life.  I spit in the doctor’s face. So the doctor said, ‘I think he’ll make it.’” In the words of Benavidez, “For those who have fought for it, life has a special flavor the protected will never know.”  He went on to say, “I’m proud to be an American; and even prouder that I’ve earned the privilege to wear the Green Beret.  I live by the motto of ‘Duty, Honor, Country.’”

We are so proud of our true American heroes from Texas.

 

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Staff Sergeant Jimmie Howard knew the fight was coming. His 18-man Marine reconnaissance unit was on top of Hill 488 in Vietnam as over 200 enemy soldiers began probing their position.

Howard had enlisted in 1950, had a Silver Star and two Purple Hearts for his actions in the Korean War, so he knew what to do when an enemy attacked. It was 10 o’clock that night when the enemy struck. The Marines pulled back to a 20-yard circle, and began fighting. In the dark, grenades and mortar shells exploded, and tracer rounds filled the air.

The enemy taunted them with, “Marines, you die in an hour.”  Howard’s men just yelled back. The Marines found this funny and began laughing. Howard described it:

“They were shooting at us and when we started laughing… they stopped.  There was complete silence.  I think it had a chilling effect on them.  They must have known we were terribly outnumbered, but here we were laughing at them.”

But soon the fight continued. The Marines were low on ammo, so Howard directed his men to, “Throw rocks.” As his men threw the rocks into the brush and grass, the enemy mistook them for grenades and moved into the open. That way the Marines could make every round count.

It was not until noon the next day that a Marine company closed on the hill.  By the time Staff Sergeant Howard and his men were relieved, they had just eight rounds of ammunition left.

Howard’s men were awarded four Navy Crosses and 13 Silver Stars. Every man earned a Purple Heart. Howard had been shot in the back, could not move his legs, but had continued to fight. He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

If that’s not courageous and heroic, then what is?

 

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Sergeant Alvin York is one of America’s most famous soldiers.  Son of a blacksmith, York was raised on a small farm in Tennessee.  In his own words:

“I used to drink a lot of moonshine. I used to gamble my wages away week after week. I used to stay out late at night. I had a powerful lot of fist fights….”  

But one day,

“I promised my mother that night I would never drink again; I would never smoke or chew again; I would never gamble again; I would never cuss or fight again. And I have never drunk any whiskey, I have never touched cards, I have never smoked or chewed, and I have never fought or rough-housed since that night.”

Then came World War I.  York went to France, landing with the U.S. Army 82nd Division in May 1918.  

Five months later he and 17 other men had just captured some enemy soldiers when they came under heavy fire.

According to York,

“There were about 30 of them. They were commanding us from a hillside less than 30 yards away. They couldn’t miss. And they didn’t!”  

Nine Americans went down:

He continued:

“Those machine guns were spitting fire and cutting down the undergrowth all around me something awful…. I didn’t have time to dodge behind a tree or dive into the brush…. As soon as the machine guns opened fire on me, I began to exchange shots with them…”

“All the time I kept yelling at them to come down. I didn’t want to kill any more than I had to. But it was they or I. And I was giving them the best I had.”

Suddenly six of the enemy jumped out of their trench and charged York.  He pulled out an old automatic pistol and started firing:

“I touched off the sixth man first, then the fifth, then the fourth, then the third, and so on. I wanted them to keep coming. I didn’t want the rear ones to see me touching off the front ones. I was afraid they would drop down and pump a volley into me.”

No western movie has better displayed “cool under fire.”  One of the captured soldiers, a major, had seen enough.  He spoke English, telling York, “If you don’t shoot any more I’ll make them surrender.”  And he did.

That was how eight Americans found themselves with 80 prisoners. They started making their way back through enemy lines, encountering more enemy soldiers on the way.  York had the major order them to surrender, and all but one did:

“I made the major order him to surrender twice. But he wouldn’t. And I had to touch him off. I hated to do it. But I couldn’t afford to take any chances and so I had to let him have it.”

By the time York and his seven men reached American lines they had 132 prisoners. The Army inspected the battlefield later, and the official report said York’s account was accurate, but also said,

“York’s statement tends to underestimate the desperate odds which he overcame.”

York was promoted to sergeant and awarded the Medal of Honor. The government made a lot of fuss about it, but York wrote in his diary that he

“…wanted to get back to my people where I belonged, and the little old mother and the little mountain girl who were waiting.”  And so he did.

Thank you for your service Sergeant.  May we all be as brave and courageous as you and your men when the time comes.

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