The sea around the wreck was alive with exploding powder boxes. He dove into that chaos to save a man too exhausted to save himself.
Wounded once, then wounded again, he still refused treatment. Every cry for help pulled him back into the fire until he gave his life beside a wounded Marine.
He charged enemy machine guns alone and broke the line ahead. Then, in his final seconds, he chose his men’s lives over his own.
He reached safety, then turned around and went back into the killing zone. Ten times he crossed open ground under machine-gun fire to bring others home.
He led from the front, charging bunkers before his men could even catch him. After destroying multiple enemy positions, he pressed one final assault and gave his life in the attack.
In the darkness before dawn, enemy troops closed in on the house. When two grenades landed among his men, he used his own body as the shield.
Wounded once, then twice, then a third time, he still kept charging back into the fight. When the line was about to break, he stood exposed and fired until he collapsed.
