Second Lieutenant Thomas W. Wigle, acting company executive, saw the crisis unfold. With no hesitation, he volunteered to take command of the 3rd Platoon for a third assault.
In the brutal street fighting of Valhey, France, Sergeant Joseph J. Sadowski commanded a tank at the very tip of Combat Command A, 4th Armored Division, as they pushed into the German-occupied town.
He leapt directly into the first machine-gun nest, silenced the gunner with his bare fists, tossed in a grenade, and was out again before it exploded.
The steep ridges of Mount Altuzzo ran red with blood as German forces counterattacked again and again, determined to crush the American advance in northern Italy.
On a jungle ridge overlooking Henderson Field, 800 Marines under Colonel Merritt “Red Mike†Edson faced a nightmare. The Japanese came at them in waves
Refusing evacuation, he ordered himself carried forward into the enemy trench. From a stretcher, bleeding and broken, he continued to command, inspire, and direct his men.
Kelly was no stranger to danger, but that day he went beyond all reason. First, he volunteered to join a small patrol tasked with locating and destroying German machine gun positions that had pinned the battalion.
