Near Tawi-Tawi, Commander Samuel D. Dealey repeatedly turned USS Harder toward charging destroyers—breaking the screen that was supposed to hunt him.
At Outpost Vegas in Korea, Navy corpsman William R. Charette shielded a wounded Marine from a grenade, gave another his own armor, and kept treating casualties under fire.
After his Bradley erupted in flames near Samarra, Sgt. 1st Class Alwyn Cashe repeatedly returned for trapped teammates—even after his fuel-soaked uniform ignited.
Wounded three times during Operation Starlite, Marine Corporal Robert E. O’Malley refused evacuation and covered his wounded squad’s withdrawal until every Marine was aboard the helicopter.
At Kaneohe Bay on December 7, 1941, John Finn fought from an exposed machine-gun stand despite repeated wounds, left only when ordered, and returned after first aid to rearm aircraft.
At Dong Xoai, Seabee Marvin Shields kept supplying ammunition, carrying the wounded, and fighting for seven hours before volunteering to silence the machine gun pinning down the compound.
When his wingman’s guns jammed, Edward “Butch” O’Hare became the only working fighter between a bomber formation and USS Lexington.
Charity Adams and the Six Triple Eight turned a crushing World War II mail backlog into a lifeline for millions of Americans serving across Europe.
Severely injured after ejecting over Laos, Lance Sijan evaded capture for 46 days—then escaped again after becoming a prisoner of war.
When Jesse Brown’s Corsair went down behind enemy lines near Chosin Reservoir, Thomas Hudner deliberately crash-landed his own fighter for the chance to save his shipmate.
