World War I

Ralyn M. Hill was a Corporal in the United States Army.  On October 7, 1918, Corporal Hill witnessed a French Airplane fall out of the sky into enemy territory on the other side of the Meuse River.  Without hesitation, he ran across the footbridge, pulled the wounded  pilot out of the plane, put him on his back and returned  across the bride.  During the daring rescue attempt, Corporal Hill was subject to intense machine gun fire and heavy artillery blasts.  He was successful in bringing the pilot to a safe area several hundred yards away from the crash.

World War II

David M. Gonzales was a Private First Class in the United States Army.   On April 25, 1945, Private Gonzales was pinned down with his company by enemy fire.  A 500 pound bomb hit the company’s perimeter and buried 5 men with its explosion.   Without hesitation, Private Gonzales grabbed an entrenching tool and crawled through intense machine gun fire to the buried men.   Along with his commanding officer, he began to dig the men out.   As he dug, his commanding officer was struck by a bullet and killed instantly.  Undismayed, Private Gonzales, continued digging.  He dug out one, then two and then a third man.  In order to dig out the third, he had to stand up, exposing himself to greater danger.  He was hit and mortally wounded while pulling the third man out.   The three men he dug out were brought to safety.

Korea

Donn F. Porter was a Sergeant in the United States Army.  On September 7^th, 1952, while commanding a combat outpost, Sergeant Porter and his crew were attacked by two enemy platoons.  The members of his crew were killed instantly and all communication to the outpost was destroyed.   Gallantly maintaining his position, Sergeant Porter poured deadly fire into the enemy positions, killing 15 and dispersing the remainder.  The enemy regrouped and charged again in an attempt to overrun the outpost.   Sergeant Porter fixed his bayonet and charged forward to meet them, killing 6 more hostile soldiers and routing the attack.   While returning to the outpost, he was killed by an artillery burst, but his courageous actions saved the outpost and ultimately thwarted a surprise attack on the main line of resistance.

Vietnam

James Anderson, Jr. was a Private First Class in the United States Marine Corps.  On February 28, 1967, Private Anderson’s Company was advancing deep in the jungle northwest of Cam Lo when they came under intense enemy small-arms and automatic weapons fire.  Reacting swiftly, his company returned fire but soon found themselves bunched closely together only 20 meters from the enemy positions.  As the firefight continued, several company members were wounded.  Suddenly, an enemy grenade landed in the midst of the marines and rolled alongside Private Anderson’s head.  Without hesitating and with complete disregard for his personal safety, he reached out, grabbed the grenade and pulled it into his chest, curling his body around it as it went off. With this heroic act, Private Anderson gave his life and saved his company from further serious injury and possible death.

Iraq

Paul R. Smith was a Sergeant in the United States Army.  On April 4, 2003, Sergeant Smith and his task force were attacked near the Baghdad International Airport by a company-sized force.   Sergeant Smith quickly arranged a hasty defense consisting of two platoons of soldiers, one Bradley Fighting Vehicle and three armored personnel carriers.   As the fighting continued, he personally engaged the enemy with hand grenades and anti-tank weapons and organized the evacuation of three wounded soldiers from an armored personnel carrier struck by a rocket propelled grenade.   Fearing being overrun, Sergeant Smith then moved under enemy fire to man  a .50 caliber machine gun mounted on a damaged armored personnel carrier.  With total disregard for his own life, he maintained his exposed position in order to engage the enemy force.   During this action, he was mortally wounded.  His courageous actions helped defeat the enemy and resulted in as  many as 50 enemy soldiers killed while allowing the safe withdrawal of numerous wounded soldiers.

There you have it, a very small sample of the many heroes that have fought and continue to fight for our freedoms.  I will leave you with a very powerful poem written by Father Dennis Edward O’Brien, USMC:

The Soldier:

It is the soldier, not the reporter who has given us the freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet, who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag, serves under the flag and whose coffin is draped by the flag, who allows the protester to burn the flag.