Facts

obscure

Medics Who Won Medals Without Firing

Combat medics like Desmond Doss and Kenneth Moore won the Medal of Honor without killing anyone. Doss, a Seventh-Day Adventist conscientious objector, saved 75 men at Hacksaw Ridge in Okinawa - many h...

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extremely obscure

The Pigeon Who Saved the Lost Battalion

A carrier pigeon named "Cherokee Strips" saved 190 American soldiers trapped behind German lines. Despite being shot in the chest and blinded in one eye, she delivered the message with a canister cont...

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obscure

Audie Murphy - Most Decorated American

Standing only 5'5" and weighing 110 lbs, Audie Murphy became the most decorated American soldier. At 19, he single-handedly held off a German company for an hour at Holtzwihr, France, using a machine ...

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extremely obscure

The American Tank Commander Who Became a Priest After

Laurie A. Miller was a tank commander who single-handedly destroyed 5 German tanks at Arracourt. When his unit was surrounded, radio operators asked for artillery coordinates. Miller said "I got them"...

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extremely obscure

D-Day's First Allied Casualty Was Black

Waverly B. Woodson Jr., a Black medic from the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, performed surgery on a beach for 30 hours despite shrapnel wounds. The segregated unit launched balloons to protect land...

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very obscure

The Dog Who Was a POW - Chips

A German Shepherd-Collie-Husky mix named Chips was awarded the Dickin Medal (animal Victoria Cross) for attacking an Italian machine gun nest in Sicily, forcing its surrender. He also alerted troops t...

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obscure

Soviet Female Sniper Ace - Lyudmila Pavlichenko

Lyudmila Pavlichenko had 309 confirmed kills in 18 months of combat. She was known for her patience, staying in position for days. Germans offered bounties for her. After being wounded, she was sent t...

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Stories

Sacrifice

The Medic Who Wouldn't Leave the Wounded

"One man's faith saved 75 souls"

On April 29, 1945, at Hacksaw Ridge, Okinawa, Private First Class Desmond Doss performed the impossible. As a conscientious objector who refused to carry a weapon, his own unit considered him a coward...

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Inspiring

The Sniper Who Never Killed a Man

"73 shots, zero deaths, infinite mercy"

Tapioca was a Finnish woman sniper during the Winter War continuing into WWII. Her name is lost to history - only her record survives. 73 confirmed "kills" - but none were deaths. Her specialty was s...

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Photos

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Desmond Doss at Hacksaw Ridge
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Soviet Female Snipers
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