The army is a well-oiled machine.
New soldiers, be they volunteers or draftees, come in as individuals and become a unit.
But sometimes an individual soldier does something so amazing, they go down in history.
#10.
Jack Churchill
Born in what’s now Sri Lanka at the height of the British Empire, Jack Churchill was
raised with a proud tradition of service.
So it was no surprise when he graduated from the Royal Military College in 1926.
He served for ten years and went on to work as an actor and competed in archery championships.
But war would come calling, and he would step up to serve his country again in the Second
World War.
He became one of the few soldiers to serve in five battlefields - France, Norway, Italy,
Yugoslavia, and Burma.
But it was his unique gear that made Jack Churchill go down in history.
Churchill was never a fan of guns, finding it much more natural to use a longbow in combat.
He was also seen in battle with his two treasured possessions - a Scottish broadsword, and a
set of bagpipes.
He would frequently play traditional military songs on his bagpipes as his men advanced.
Captured by the Germans in 1944, he was imprisoned in a German concentration camp and interrogated
- only for he and three of his men to dig out and briefly escape.
After seven months of captivity, the SS troops abandoned their base and Churchill rejoined
his unit.
But he wasn’t done yet - when the war ended, he transferred to the British Mandate of Palestine
and worked to protect Jewish refugees, many of whom survived the Holocaust.
And one of those Holocaust survivors had a remarkable story of his own.
#9.
Tibor Rubin
Born in a small Hungarian town, Tibor Rubin was the son of a Jewish shoemaker.
But his life was upended when the Nazis invaded, and his parents tried to send him to neutral
Switzerland.
After being captured, he spent over a year in the Mauthausen concentration camp and lost
both his parents and a sister.
He immigrated to the United States, and was driven by gratitude for being liberated by
US troops to enlist in the military.
It took two tries, but in 1950 he put on the uniform of his adopted country and would soon
be sent to fight in the Korean War.
But it wouldn’t be an easy job for a Jewish immigrant.
Rubin worked hard to prove himself, but he was under the supervision of a cruel and antisemitic
sergeant named Arthur Peyton.
He was forced into many of the most dangerous missions - and came back alive every time.
In his most famous feat, he defended a hill for twenty-four hours against a horde of North
Korean soldiers, allowing his unit to retreat safely.
Rubin was recommended for the Medal of Honor four times - but Peyton ignored the orders,
and Rubin was passed over.
Before the war was over, Rubin spent thirty months in a brutal prisoner of war camp, and
frequently snuck out to steal food for his fellow soldiers.
But his story would have a happy ending - fifty-five years after he joined the army, he received
the Medal of Honor he was unfairly denied, and shortly after his 2016 death a California
VA hospital was named for him.
But iconic war heroes aren’t a thing of the past.
#8.
Dakota Meyer
The Afghanistan War was raging in 2009, and Dakota Meyer was only a young man of 21 when
he found himself tested.
He had enlisted in the Marines right out of high school, and was deployed to Fallujah
as a scout sniper.
During his second deployment, four members of his squad went missing after an ambush
- and everyone knew that could mean years of captivity, if not death.
His superiors ordered him to stay put, but Meyer would leave no man behind.
Near the village of Ganjgal, Meyer dodged enemy fire and went in pursuit.
It would be the toughest battle of his young life.
Tragically, he soon found the four soldiers dead.
A Taliban fighter was trying to steal the bodies, and Meyer fought him.
In close quarters, he couldn’t reach his weapon - so he beat the enemy soldier to death
with a rock.
He teamed up with allied Afghan fighters and retrieved the bodies so they could be brought
home for a proper burial.
But while he wasn’t able to save the lives he came there for, his pursuit allowed him
to evacuate twelve wounded allies and help twenty-four US soldiers escape an ambush.
His heroic actions led him to become one of the youngest men ever to receive the Medal
of Honor, and while he battled PTSD after his service, today he continues his good deeds
by advocating for fellow veterans and for wildlife conservation.
But this next Medal of Honor recipient broke the mold completely.
#7.
Desmond Doss
Desmond Doss grew up in a devout Seventh-day Adventist household, and there was one principle
he held above all others - nonviolence.
That became a problem when the United States entered World War II.
While he could have gotten a deferment due to his work as a ship-builder, he didn’t
feel right avoiding service - but he was unwilling to carry a weapon or kill another man.
After much debate, Doss was allowed to enter military service as a medic, stationed with
another unit to tend to their injuries.
But he would prove to be every bit as much a hero as the armed soldiers.
It was 1944 in the Battle of Okinawa when Doss would become world-famous.
His unit came under heavy fire, with countless soldiers being wounded.
At constant risk to his own life, he raced into enemy fire and saved the lives of at
least fifty wounded soldiers by helping them evacuate.
He even kicked a grenade away from him and his men - a heroic act that left him with
seventeen pieces of shrapnel in him.
Seriously wounded, he became the first person to receive the Medal of Honor for valor in
combat without ever firing a single shot.
His story became the Oscar-nominated film “Hacksaw Ridge”.
But it would be a much longer battle for the next soldier to be properly honored.
#6.
Henry Johnson
The US military was still segregated when Henry Johnson enlisted to fight in the First
World War, and he was assigned to an all-black Infantry regiment that was deployed to France.
But they wouldn’t be given their chance in combat - instead being assigned to labor
duties.
That changed when the French army needed more soldiers, and General John J. Pershing lent
out his black soldiers.
In France, Johnson was shocked at how much more kindly he was treated by the locals and
the French soldiers, and prepared to enter combat.
His unit would soon earn the name “The Harlem Hellfighters”.
Johnson’s unit was assigned to the edge of the Argonne forest, and he was placed on
observation post duty.
That was when a large German raiding party attacked, and Johnson fended off as many as
thirty-six soldiers.
He used grenades, and when he ran out he used whatever he had on hand - a knife, his rifle
butt, and even his own two fists.
He personally killed four men, prevented his soldiers from being captured, and was wounded
twenty-one times.
He received the War Cross from the French military - but in the United States it would
be a different story.
He was threatened with arrest for revealing the racial abuse he suffered in the army,
and died of heart issues at only thirty-seven.
But his family fought to make sure his story was told, and in 2015 he was posthumously
awarded the Medal of Honor.
This next soldier shocked the world when their identity was revealed.
#5.
Deborah Sampson
Growing up as tensions were rising between Great Britain and its colonies in what would
become the United States, Deborah Sampson was an unassuming young woman with plain features
- and was unusually tall for a woman.
Handy with tools and familiar with hard labor, she wanted to do her part for the American
Revolution.
She first tried to enlist while in disguise as a man under the name Timothy Thayer, but
was quickly found out.
Her second attempt, under the name Robert Shirtliff, was much more successful.
She joined the elite Light Infantry Company, which was for soldiers who were taller and
stronger than most.
And she would prove herself every bit a warrior.
During her first battle, Sampson took two musket balls to her leg and a wound to her
forehead.
Her fellow soldiers took her to a doctor, but she left after her head was treated - instead
using a small knife to remove one of the bullets.
She continued to serve in the war while wounded, even being sent by George Washington to put
down a rebellion of her fellow soldiers.
When she became ill on duty, she was exposed by a doctor who treated her - but her commanding
officer General Patterson gave her an honorable discharge for her heroism.
She wound up receiving her full army pay and became a lecturer about her unlikely time
as a Revolutionary hero.
But there was one even unlikelier master of disguise.
#4.
John Lincoln Clem
The American Civil War tore the country in two, and tensions were high.
John Lincoln Clem couldn’t wait to enlist and do his part against the Confederacy.
There was just one problem - he was only nine years old.
He was turned away by the first unit he tried, but the 22nd Michigan Infantry liked his spirit
and took him on as their drummer boy.
Two years later, he would enlist fully and become one of the youngest soldiers in American
history.
He became famous after successfully shooting a Confederate colonel, and soon became the
youngest person ever promoted to sergeant.
But the dark side of the war would soon find him.
He was captured along with several other soldiers, and the Confederates used this child soldier
for propaganda purposes, boasting that the Union was sending babies to fight them.
But it didn’t deter the young hero - he fought until 1864, being wounded in combat
twice.
And in 1870, this war hero graduated high school and immediately went back into the
service.
He would be appointed personally by Ulysses S. Grant, and served until he hit the mandatory
retirement age in 1915 and was promoted to brigadier general - possibly setting a record
for the longest time serving in the US army by anyone.
One thing many war heroes have in common - they never take a chance to leave the war early.
#3.
John Basilone
Born the sixth of ten children to a large Italian-American family, John Basilone never
attended high school and worked as a golf caddy before deciding to enlist in the army
- seven years before America entered World War II.
After completing his term of service, he switched to the Marines for a second hitch only a year
before Pearl Harbor.
This time his service would make him a legend.
He fought in the Battle of Henderson Field on Guadalcanal, manning two machine guns against
a battalion of 3,000 Japanese troops.
When he ran out of ammo, he fended them off from his position with a knife and pistol.
It was no surprise that he received the Medal of Honor.
But Basilone wasn’t done yet.
After his heroism, he returned to the United States and was used by the military to promote
war bonds.
His hero’s welcome made him feel uncomfortable - he saw himself as a simple military man
and the war was still ongoing.
He wanted to be back on the field with his men, and asked to be returned to combat - even
turning down positions as an officer or instructor.
He re-enlisted, marrying a woman he met on his second tour, and was part of the initial
invasion of Iwo Jima.
But no hero is immortal, and after a heroic battle that helped the American forces break
through the Japanese defenses on the beach, Basilone was cut down on Iwo Jima.
His story was immortalized in the TV series “The Pacific”.
The next hero became a household name in more ways than one.
#2.
Audie Murphy
Audie Murphy didn’t look like much.
When Pearl Harbor was attacked, he was a skinny sixteen-year-old determined to do his part.
He was only able to enlist with the help of forged documents by his older sister, and
even then he was nearly kicked out for being too scrawny.
But from the moment he set foot in Europe during the 1943 invasion of Sicily, he became
a military dynamo.
He killed two Italian officers soon after his first deployment, fought off a German
unit with hand grenades, and was promoted to sergeant only months after seeing combat.
But the war would take its toll on this tiny soldier.
He was frequently sick, even coming down with malaria, but he defied doctors’ orders and
continued to go on scouting patrols.
His small size helped him out when he was able to crawl close enough to a german tank
to blow it up with grenades.
By the end of the war, he had received every single US military combat award for valor
- including the Medal of Honor for his one-man stand against a whole company of German soldiers
only months before the war ended.
But the end of the war wouldn’t be the last people heard of Audie Murphy - he went on
to become a successful actor, working in Hollywood for over twenty years before his shocking
death in a plane crash.
But no soldier was more dedicated to the military life than this one.
#1.
Adrian Carton de Wiart
The son of Belgian and Irish parents, Carton de Wiart joined the British Army when he was
only twenty years old, and was quickly sent off to the Second Boer War in South Africa.
His stay was brief - he was shot in the stomach and sent home.
His father was shocked to learn his son had enlisted in the military instead of finishing
college, but he wouldn’t be deterred - as soon as he was healed, he returned to South
Africa and became a second lieutenant.
He travelled the world and married after the war - until the First World War broke out,
and he quickly returned to combat.
This time, his heroism cost him an eye, but earned him the Victoria Cross for his heroism
in leading his battalion while wounded and under fire.
Adrian Carton de Wiart was pushing forty, but he wasn’t done.
He worked as a diplomat following the war, being stationed in Poland - which in 1939
became ground zero for the outbreak of World War Two.
Now almost sixty years old and having given an eye for his country, no one would have
blamed him if he left the new war to the young men - but that wasn’t Carton de Wiart’s
style.
He led troops in Poland, Norway, and Yugoslavia, and became a prisoner of war in Italy.
He managed to escape five times before being released when Italy sought to exit the war.
But he wasn’t done yet - after returning to England, Adrian Carton de Wiart was sent
to China as Winston Churchill’s personal representative, and one of Britain’s greatest
warriors became one of its greatest diplomats - an unexpected capper to over forty years
of fighting wars.
For more on unlikely war heroes, check out “The Boy Soldiers of WWI (World War 1)”,
or watch “Bear Who Fought Alongside Soldiers in World War 2” for maybe the unlikeliest
combatant.