December 8, 2012, Laghman Province, Afghanistan.
Hostage Rescue Force Team Member and Navy SEAL, Edward C. Byers, Jr., is part of a mission to free
an American hostage, physician Dr. Dilip Joseph, who’d days earlier been captured by the Taliban.
Through the night Byers and his team march for more than four hours through an unforgiving
wilderness. It’s pitch-black. All the men are wearing night vision goggles. The
temperature drops below zero when the men get close to the compound where
it’s believed the hostage is being kept. Almost there, 75 feet (23 m) to
the entrance of the compound, but then the men are spotted by the insurgents.
Petty Officer 1st Class Nicolas D. Checque races forward and shoots a guard. He enters
the compound with Byers right behind him. Shots are fired, Checque falls. He’s mortally
wounded. Byers doesn’t stop. He kicks down the door where the hostage is, firing at a man
and killing him. Another insurgent tries to pick up a rifle. Byers lurches forward,
grabbing the man, and killing him up close. Bullets are flying. It’s chaos, chaos without
light. Byers jumps on Dr. Joseph, shielding him from harm, but at the same time, he’s got
another insurgent by the neck, pinning him to a wall. Another SEAL enters the room, killing the
insurgent who’s trapped by the iron grip of Byers. Fast forward to 2016. President Obama is placing
the Medal of Honor around Byers’ neck. He saved a hostage, he took out the enemy; he showed
undaunted courage and an intrepid fighting spirit. Mr. Byers was one of the last people to receive
the Medal of Honor, and while his story is straight out of a Hollywood movie, as you will
see, there are crazier stories out there. Today you’ll meet the Badasses. Men who knew no fear.
10. Henry Johnson You’ve all heard the expression “beyond the
call of duty” and what Mr. Johnson did in the first world war was absolutely beyond what
is expected of a soldier. He would go down in history as the first African American
soldier to receive the Medal of Honor. On May 15, 1918, he was serving with Charlie
Company, 369th Infantry Regiment, 93d Infantry Division, of the American Expeditionary Forces on
the front lines of the Western Front in France. He would become a hero, but perhaps, an unsung
hero. You see, at the time, there was a lot of racism in the military, as well as at home. Some
white soldiers gave black soldiers a hard time, and worse, the American Expeditionary
Forces circulated a pamphlet in France titled “Secret Information Concerning Black
American Troops.” That information related to African American soldiers allegedly being
immoral in society and inferior in battle. That pamphlet couldn’t have
been further from the truth. Johnson’s all-black regiment, nicknamed
the “Harlem Hellfighters”, were told by the French Army to head to the Argonne Forest
in the region of Champagne. On the night of the heroics Johnson was at the observation
post when the regiment came under attack by German soldiers belonging to a raiding party.
Johnson didn’t have much time to think and he threw a grenade at the Germans. They still moved
in, so Johnson used the butt of his rifle to repel the men. He then threw that down and pulled
out his bolo knife, stabbing whoever came close. At times he had to use his other hand,
smacking the invaders with his fist. Then he noticed that one of his fellow soldiers
had been injured and two Germans were trying to pull the man away. Johnson ran at the men
with the knife and with his bare fists he wounded two Germans and managed to drag the
injured American soldier back to safety. During his ordeal he suffered 21 injuries.
It was later said that Johnson faced almost certain death, but with a mighty heart and
a fearless attitude he not only saved the injured man but also the rest of the men.
Had he not been so brave the Germans would have surely captured that outpost.
That’s why he got the nickname “The Black Death” and that’s why he became a
hero when he returned home to the U.S. There he was expected to talk about how blacks and
whites fought together in harmony, but Johnson was a brave man again. Instead he talked about racism
and the rough treatment he and other African Americans had experienced. He fell out of favor
then with the military and was even arrested for wearing his uniform when giving those talks.
He died in 1929 from tuberculosis. It wasn’t until 2003 that he was posthumously
awarded the purple heart, and then in 2015 he was awarded the Medal of Honor.
So, how can we top that? Well, hang in there and you’ll find out. There are a lot of stories
to choose from, given that the award has been bestowed on over 3,500 people.
9. Thomas Ward Custer So, what’s so special about this guy? The answer
is he became the first person ever to receive the award twice. You’re probably more familiar
with his older brother, George Armstrong Custer, a man who had big ambitions before he was killed
fighting native Americans at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. You’ve likely heard of “Custer’s
Last Stand”, in which the American soldiers were roundly defeated. Thomas died, too, as
did their other brother, Boston Custer. But let's stick with Thomas. On April 3,
1865, he was fighting the Confederates at the Battle of Namozine Church. During a charge
against a Confederate barricade, Custer was under heavy fire, but he carried on, leaping the
barricade. He then captured the confederate flag, and his men followed him. His horse, well,
his horse didn’t do too well. It was shot and it died. That was Medal of Honor number one.
It was only three days later during the Battle of Sailor's Creek that Custer displayed
similar heroics. Alongside his men he led a charge again, and again he jumped a barricade.
He saw the Confederate flag-bearer and charged at him, only to get shot in the face. Undeterred,
he pulled out his weapon and shot the flag-bearer, killing him. After giving the flag to his older
brother he was told to go get treatment, but he refused, so he had to be man-handled to a doctor.
8. William D. Hawkins November 20 and 21, 1943, William Hawkins, Scout
Sniper Platoon attached to the Second Marines, Second Marine Division, is fighting the Japanese
in the Gilbert Islands in the Pacific Ocean. This became known as the Battle of Tarawa.
One of those islands is called Betio Island, and it was there that Hawkins with another 40
men were being fired at from machine gun towers. They were sitting ducks, and it seemed
that there wasn’t much they could do. Hawkins said don’t worry, and he sneaked off.
Moments later and he was climbing the first tower. When he got to the top, he took out the machine
gunner close up. Some shrapnel severely injured him, but Hawkins still had a job to do.
He managed to do this in seven towers, although he was shot in the chest at
the last tower. Still, because of his brave actions the rest of the men could advance.
Hawkins was told that his wound didn’t look good, although he seemed to think it was only a scratch.
When he was told to get on a boat and receive more medical attention, he replied, “I'm not doing
it, sir! I came here to kill Japs, not go home!” He didn’t go home and decided to try and take out
an eighth gunner in a tower. He was shot again, but this time it was a bit more than a scratch.
His last words to his fellow soldiers were, “Boys, I sure hate to leave you like this.”
7. Roy Benavidez 6 hours in hell, how does that sound to
you? That’s what Mr. Benavidez experienced when he was fighting in the Vietnam War.
The date was May 2, 1968, and a 12-man Special Forces patrol along with Vietnamese tribesmen were
patrolling the South Vietnamese-Cambodian border when they came up against what you might call a
bit of a problem. That was a 1,000-man-plus NVA infantry battalion. Talk about being outnumbered.
Benavidez wasn’t actually in the 12-man unit at the time, but when he heard about what had
happened he got in a helicopter and told the pilot to drop him close to the mix. When he was dropped
off he started running towards the fight, but was injured on the way in his face, head and leg.
When he did get to the men, many of them were lying on the ground injured. Benavidez went to
their rescue and managed to get them on a Medevac helicopter. But there was another important
mission, because one of the dead men was carrying classified documents. He couldn’t allow those to
get in the hands of the NVA so he went back to get them, only as he did that the helicopter pilot
was shot and killed, causing the chopper to crash. He went back to the now overturned helicopter
and got the injured men out of there. He took them to a safer place and tried to hide, hoping
the airstrike he had called would come soon. It didn’t.
But another helicopter did arrive. The question was, how to get the
injured men on that thing while under fire. He did his best, ferrying some men on the
vehicle and killing one NVA in hand-to-hand combat. He killed another two with his gun.
He suffered severe injuries while all this was going on. He might have got the injured
men on the helicopter, but after that he just collapsed in a bloody heap. A medic took
one look at him and thought it was game over, so he put Benavidez in a body bag and zipped
the thing up. As the zip got to the end of its journey Benavidez spat in the guy’s face.
Listen to this for a bunch of injuries. He had suffered a collapsed lung, had major gunshot
wounds in his body, shrapnel in his head, butt, feet, legs, scalp and shoulder.
If that wasn’t bad enough, he’d taken great big bayonet slashes to both arms.
He was first awarded the Distinguished Service Cross and then in 1981 he was awarded the
Medal of Honor. Ronald Reagan was the president at the time, and when talking about that day in
hell he said, “If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it.”
Benavidez died in 1998, not because of his wartime injuries, but because
of complications of diabetes. Can we beat that story? We think we can.
6. Charles Berry This is the arguably the saddest
story you’ll hear in this show. On March 3, 1945, Barry was part of a machine-gun
Crew, serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-Sixth Marines, Fifth Marine Division,
on Iwo Jima in the Volcano Islands. That night he was on the front line, nervously waiting
for a possible sneak attack by the Japanese. That’s exactly what happened. Just after the clock
struck midnight Japanese soldiers came out of the dark and started throwing grenades at Berry and
his company who were all packed into a foxhole. Berry and the other men threw grenades back, but
to the horror of American soldiers one of those Japanese grenades landed right by them. Without
thinking, Berry jumped on it and by doing so saved his friends. We don’t need to tell you that
he was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously. 5. Bryant Womack On March 12, 1952, Womack was involved
in a huge firefight somewhere in Korea. What’s different with this story is that he
wasn’t one of the men shooting, rather he was a medic that was attending to the injured men.
As the only medic for that battalion it was important that he didn’t get hit,
but unfortunately he did get hit, and hit pretty bad. Nonetheless, he carried
on treating the many injured men, knowing that he was their only hope. They were severely
outnumbered and were getting shot to pieces. Then the worst thing that could happen,
happened. Womack was hit by a mortar and it blew his arm right off. He knew what would
happen if he didn’t take care of himself, but instead of trying to save himself he
carried on attending to the injured soldiers. Before he died of blood loss he managed to
tell other men how to treat the injured. He died while being carried
on a stretcher to safety. 4. Randy Shughart and Gary Gordon This was a double act and happened in
1993 at the Battle of Mogadishu, Somalia. Both these guys were snipers and the job
that they were given was to take out a Somali warlord named Mohamed Farrah Aidid
and anyone that stood between him and them. During an operation to kill Aidid ‘s best
lieutenants, two Black Hawk helicopters were shot down. You may have heard the words,
“Black Hawk Down” at some point in your life. As U.S. forces were trying to deal
with the first helicopter, the other, Super 64, came crashing down. Both Shughart
and Gordon volunteered to head to the crash site to search for survivors, despite being
outnumbered a thousand to one by local militias. When they got there, all the men aboard the
helicopter were dead except for the pilot, Michael Durant, who was wounded but would
survive. Then the worse thing happened. A mob of militants attacked the three men.
They fought back as well as they could, but the mob came at them in swarms. Both Shughart and
Gordon were killed, and Durant was taken hostage. Durant was eventually released and he went
back home to the U.S where his wife and kids were waiting for him. Concerning what happened
that day he has said this, “Without a doubt, I owe my life to these two men and their
bravery...Those guys came in when they had to know it was a losing battle. There was nobody else
left to back them up. If they had not come in, I wouldn't have survived.”
3. Ryan Pitts July 13, 2008, Kunar Province, Afghanistan, and
Ryan Pitts is serving as a Forward Observer in 2d Platoon, Chosen Company, 2d Battalion (Airborne),
503d Infantry Regiment, 173d Airborne Brigade. What’s unique about this story is that Pitts
was all alone at the start. He was positioned at a remote post, protecting the Wanat Vehicle
Patrol Base. Early in the morning all hell broke loose when the base came under fire from over 200
Anti-Afghan Forces. They hit the base with small arms, machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades.
Pitts tried his best to protect his fellow soldiers, but in doing that he was hit, suffering
severe injuries to his arms and legs. Still, he got up and opened fire. As the enemy got closer,
Pitts understood that it was do or die. One at a time, he pulled a pin on a grenade, then waited,
waited, and threw it so it exploded at the right time. In doing this he managed to hold them back.
But he was so injured that he collapsed. On the ground, bleeding out, he still managed to
fire at the attackers. Two men came to his aid, and Pitts gave up his gun. Near death, he
then crawled to a radio and asked for back up. He knew quite well that by making that
call he would be heard and killed. Because of what he did he saved the base and saved
the lives of many men. He’s alive and well today, working at the tech company, Oracle.
2. Vernon Baker Baker did something extremely brave, something
you might have seen in a Hollywood movie. On April 5, 1945, with the second world war
almost over, Baker was a 2nd Lieutenant in the army fighting in the mountains of Italy. There
his unit came under heavy machine gun fire and, well, there wasn’t much they could do about
it. They were up against a formidable enemy. Baker, knowing his men couldn’t move, crawled
to one of the machine gun nests and killed the men in it. He then crawled over to an
observation post and killed the guys there. He was by no means done.
With some of his men, he attacked a structure where the enemy was shooting from, and then those
guys were dead. But there was still a big problem. Some enemy machine gunners were still firing
and some of Baker’s guys were severely wounded and needed to get the hell out of there.
What to do? He thought for a while and knew the answer.
After telling the other men about his plan he took a gun and purposely exposed himself
to the enemy. If they were firing at him, the other guys would be able to escape. He
actually survived and helped save a lot of people. Not only that, the next day he volunteered
to lead a battalion through a minefield. He didn’t get the Medal of Honor until
1997, when he was 77 years old. It was agreed then that some African Americans
should have got the medal back in the day. 1. Richard Nott Antrim
This one is different from all of the others. During the second world war Lieutenant
Antrim served on the ship the USS Pope. He helped sink a number of Japanese ships
and for that his captain said that he should be commended for his “meritorious
performance of his several duties.” But that’s not why he received the Medal of Honor.
During the Battle of the Java Sea in 1942, the successful Pope met its end. It was
sunk and Antrim was injured. Nonetheless, he was a lodestone when it came to getting
the men on rafts and getting them supplies. This didn’t mean he was out of trouble.
The Japanese Navy picked him and other men up and took them as prisoners of war.
As you might have heard, the Japanese could be brutal at times to their POWs,
and that happened under the watch of Antrim. One day he witnessed an American
POW being accused of not bowing to a guard and being told he was going to get 50 lashes.
On the 15th lash the man was cut to pieces and was unconscious. He would
not survive many more lashes. Antrim stood up and said, “I'll take the
rest.” The Japanese were in shock. Antrim knew that 35 lashes might well end his life.
Still, he added, “I'll take the lashes.” The Japanese soldiers kind of respected
him for this, and he didn’t get lashed. That’s not where his story ends, though,
because having gained this new respect the Japanese listened to Antrim when he offered
them advice about building some trenches. They allowed him to build the trenches the
way he wanted, not knowing that when he and his men were done from the air you could see the
letters, US. He did that so allied planes wouldn’t bomb the site, and by doing so he might have saved
hundreds of lives. If the Japanese had caught him, he would have lost his head for sure.
Now you need to watch this, “The Battle of the Bulge.” Or have a look at this, “The Battle of
Leyte Gulf - Most INSANE Naval Battle in History.”
