After losing his left leg during a Navy recovery mission, Carl Brashear fought his way back to diving—and became the Navy’s first African American master diver.
At the Battle off Samar, Commander Ernest E. Evans turned USS Johnston toward an overwhelmingly superior fleet—and fought until his destroyer could fight no more.
When a grenade landed inside his rooftop position in Afghanistan, Kyle Carpenter moved toward it and shielded a fellow Marine—an act that nearly cost him his life.
Outnumbered, severely wounded, and nearly out of weapons, Henry Johnson fought off a German raiding party and saved a fellow Soldier from capture.
Trapped below decks aboard the burning USS Franklin, Donald A. Gary found an escape route—then returned through the smoke three times to lead hundreds of Sailors to safety.
Outnumbered and under fire in the Mekong Delta, James E. Williams kept two Navy patrol boats attacking for three hours—and turned an ambush into a decisive river battle.
Commander Howard W. Gilmore gave the final order that saved USS Growler and her crew, sacrificing himself in one of submarine history’s defining acts of leadership.
Blinded and burning inside a diving B-29, Henry “Red” Erwin carried a white-phosphorus bomb through the aircraft and threw it clear—saving his entire crew.
At Guadalcanal, John Basilone kept shattered machine-gun positions firing through the night—then gave up safety and fame to return to his Marines at Iwo Jima.
At Pearl Harbor, Doris Miller stepped beyond the role a segregated Navy had assigned him, carried his wounded captain, and took up a weapon to defend USS West Virginia.
