Volume 6, Issue 1: Medal of Honor: Ruben Rivers
Staff Sergeant Ruben Rivers served in the 761st Tank Battalion, the famed “Black Panthers” who were assigned to George Patton’s Third Army in World War II. In November 1944, Rivers was injured when his tank hit a mine outside Guebling, France, but he refused evacuation and took command of another tank. Three days later, when the company ran into German defenses, Rivers fought to cover the unit’s withdrawal and was killed by anti-tank fire.
Volume 5, Issue 4: Medal of Honor: Alwyn Cashe
Alwyn Cashe was a platoon sergeant on a nighttime patrol in Iraq when his Bradley Fighting Vehicle struck an improvised explosive device and burst into flame. He suffered terrible burns while extracting the driver but returned again and again to the vehicle to pull the others to safety. Cashe then ensured all the wounded were evacuated before agreeing to leave. He succumbed to his injuries a few weeks later, asking about the welfare of his soldiers to the end.
Volume 5, Issue 3: Medal of Honor: Bruce Crandall
Army aviator Bruce Crandall flew more than 900 combat missions during two tours of duty in the Vietnam War. Of these, it was the 22 helicopter flights “Snake” took into the Ia Drang valley that would eventually be recognized with the Medal of Honor. During this first major battle of the war, Crandall repeatedly ignored heavy enemy fire on Landing Zone X-Ray to deliver ammunition and evacuate scores of wounded soldiers.
Volume 5, Issue 2: Medal of Honor: Samuel Woodfill
General John Pershing recognized Samuel Woodfill as the most outstanding soldier of the First World War. When his company came under fire during a battle of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, Woodfill took out several machine-gun nests with a rifle, a pistol, and a nearby pick-axe. Pershing personally presented Woodfill with the Medal of Honor and later handpicked him to dedicate the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National Cemetery.
Volume 5, Issue 1: Medal of Honor: Edward Carter Jr.
Edward Carter Jr. had remarkable military experience as a young man, fighting against the Japanese and Spanish fascists. As a US Army infantryman in World War II, he was wounded several times in a single-handed advance on a German warehouse and still went on to kill six enemy soldiers and capture two. Carter then used his language skills to collect information from the prisoners that helped the Americans capture the nearby town.
Volume 4, Issue 4: Medal of Honor: Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart
Gary Gordon and Randy Shughart were part of a special operations sniper team with Task Force Ranger in Mogadishu, Somalia. During the assault made famous as “Black Hawk Down,” they volunteered to be inserted at a helicopter crash site to protect the pilots and crew. They jumped into the firefight knowing that their own chances of survival were slim. Gordon and Shughart ultimately gave their lives to save others.
Volume 4, Issue 3: Medal of Honor: Tom Custer
Tom Custer was the first soldier in U.S. history to earn two Medals of Honor. During the Civil War, he lied about his age to enlist in the infantry and then commissioned as a cavalry officer. The medals recognized his actions in two separate battles in April 1865 where he captured Confederate flags and multiple prisoners. Years later he was killed at the Battle of the Little Big Horn alongside younger brother Boston and their older sibling, George Armstrong Custer.
Volume 4, Issue 2: Medal of Honor: Ralph Puckett
Ralph Puckett was a commander of the 8th U.S. Army Ranger Company during the Korean War. He led his new unit in the capture of a frozen hilltop near the Chinese border and faced multiple counterattacks where they were outnumbered almost ten to one. Puckett, an inaugural member of the Ranger Hall of Fame, was awarded the Medal of Honor in May 2021, more than 70 years after the fight.
Volume 4, Issue 1: Medal of Honor: Vernon Baker
Vernon Baker led his weapons platoon in an assault on Castle Aghinolfi, a German strongpoint in the mountains of Italy, during April 1945. Baker eliminated three machine gun positions, an observation post, and a dugout during the day-long battle. He received a Distinguished Service Cross for his actions, which was upgraded more than 50 years later when seven African Americans were awarded the Medal of Honor for their service in World War II.
Volume 3, Issue 4: Medal of Honor: Roger Donlon
Roger Donlon is the first person in the Vietnam War—and the first member of the Special Forces—to receive the Medal of Honor. Donlon was the commanding officer of a 12-man team of Green Berets at Camp Nam Dong, which was attacked by a reinforced battalion of Viet Cong in the predawn hours of July 6, 1964. He disregarded multiple wounds sustained in the overnight battle and successfully led the defense of the outpost.
Volume 3, Issue 3: Medal of Honor: Wild Bill Donovan
William Joseph “Wild Bill” Donovan is best known for running the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), a precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency, during World War II. He was also one of the most highly decorated soldiers of the First World War. Donovan was recognized with the Medal of Honor for personally leading his battalion in an assault during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, refusing to be evacuated after being hit by machine-gun fire.
Volume 3, Issue 2: Medal of Honor: Mitchell Red Cloud Jr.
Mitchell Red Cloud Jr. served as a Marine Raider in World War II before joining the Army as an infantryman. During the Korean War he detected and thwarted a Chinese assault despite being shot twice. Refusing assistance, Red Cloud propped himself against a tree to continue fighting until he was fatally wounded. His heroic actions prevented the company from being overrun.
Volume 3, Issue 1: Medal of Honor: Jacob Parrott
Jacob Parrott was the first recipient of the Medal of Honor. During the Civil War, Parrott was one of 24 men—twenty-two U.S. Army soldiers and two civilians—who volunteered to go nearly 200 miles into Confederate territory to steal a train and destroy bridges and track between Atlanta and Chattanooga. The raiders were caught but the adventure became famous as the Great Locomotive Chase.
Volume 2, Issue 4: Medal of Honor: Tibor Rubin
Tibor Rubin is the only Holocaust survivor to be awarded the Medal of Honor. Rubin emigrated to the United States after World War II and joined the Army. Fighting in Korea in July 1950, he single-handedly fought off a North Korean assault, inflicting staggering numbers of casualties. He was later captured and risked his life to gather food for fellow prisoners. Rubin was recognized for his actions, both as a combatant and as a POW, with the nation’s highest honor.
Volume 2, Issue 3: Medal of Honor: Mary Walker
Mary Walker, one of the first women to earn a medical degree in America, served as a contract surgeon for the U.S. Army during the Civil War. Often crossing enemy lines to treat sick civilians, she was captured by Confederate soldiers and held as a prisoner of war for several months before being released in an exchange. Dr. Mary Walker is the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor.
Volume 2, Issue 2: Medal of Honor: Henry Johnson
Henry Johnson served on the Western Front of the First World War as member of the 369th Infantry Regiment, an African American unit that later became famous as the Harlem Hellfighters. While on sentry duty, Johnson fought off a German raiding party in hand-to-hand combat, despite being seriously injured. He was the first American to receive a Croix de Guerre with a golden palm, France’s highest award for bravery, and became a national hero back home.
Volume 2, Issue 1: Medal of Honor: Daniel Inouye
Daniel Inouye personally witnessed the attack on Pearl Harbor and volunteered for the 442nd Regimental Combat Team, which became one of the most decorated units in World War II. As a second lieutenant, Inouye led an assault on the German defenses in Italy during the final weeks of the war, where he lost an arm but continued fighting the battle. He entered politics upon his return to Hawaii and became the first Japanese American elected to the U.S. Senate.
Volume 1, Issue 4: Medal of Honor: Sal Giunta
Specialist Sal Giunta was on patrol in the Korengal Valley of Afghanistan on the moonlit night of 25 October 2007 when his platoon was caught in a Taliban ambush. Braving rocket-propelled grenades and intense small arms fire, he advanced on the enemy, prevented the capture of a fellow paratrooper, and turned the tide of the battle. In recognition of his efforts, Giunta became the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor since the Vietnam War.
Volume 1, Issue 3: Medal of Honor: Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy is the highest decorated soldier in American history. Among his many acts of bravery in World War II, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for single-handedly holding off six German tanks and waves of infantry for over an hour during a firefight on 26 January 1945. Murphy stopped only when he ran out of ammunition, then made his way back to his men and organized a successful counterattack.
Volume 1, Issue 2: Medal of Honor: Roy Benavidez
On the morning of 2 May 1968, Special Forces Staff Sergeant Roy Benavidez volunteered to help rescue a 12-man reconnaissance team trapped by the North Vietnamese Army. During hours of bloody fighting, Benavidez was seriously wounded multiple times but still worked tirelessly to defend his comrades and help bring them back. For his actions that day he became a legend in the Green Beret community and was recognized with a Medal of Honor.
Volume 1, Issue 1: Medal of Honor: Alvin York
On October 8, 1918, Alvin York was part of a small patrol fighting behind enemy lines during the Meuse-Argonne campaign of World War I. Suddenly a German machine gun brought down most of his platoon. York assumed command of the seven surviving Americans, took out the machine-gun nest, and captured 132 German soldiers. Corporal York was soon awarded sergeant’s stripes—and a Medal of Honor.
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