Real Men of Honor

[recurveman]

So i have been getting on a real kick lately reading about Medal of Honor recipients. Any time you watch the TV for any length of time these days, we are idolizing people that can throw a ball around really well, or that can hold a microphone better then the next guy and pretend to sing. The event that really spurred this on what an interview with a boy who had terminal cancer. In the interview they were talking about his life and what he does. Everything was really sad of course and then they asked him who his hero was. The boy quickly responded "Justin Beeber!", and then quickly went into how Justin Beeber is so great and has done so much stuff. At that point i got physically ill and wanted to take my 45 (ever so conveniently on my belt) and blow a hole through my TV just to end the stupidity. At what point in time did our children stop looking up to actual heroism and start honoring selfish greed and fame? So to make my self feel better i am going to post the story of a Medal of Honor recipient's story on here to bring their deeds and actions back so that we can remember what built this country and what real men were like. I also invite everyone else to post Medal of Honor stories that really stand out as well.

[recurveman]

Henry Schauer (October 9, 1918 – June 16, 1997) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military's highest decoration—the Medal of Honor—for his actions in World War II.

Schauer's official Medal of Honor citation reads:
For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at risk of life above and beyond the call of duty. On May 23, 1944, at 12 noon, Pfc. (now T/Sgt.) Schauer left the cover of a ditch to engage 4 German snipers who opened fire on the patrol from its rear. Standing erect he walked deliberately 30 yards toward the enemy, stopped amid the fire from 4 rifles centered on him, and with 4 bursts from his BAR, each at a different range, killed all of the snipers. Catching sight of a fifth sniper waiting for the patrol behind a house chimney, Pfc. Schauer brought him down with another burst. Shortly after, when a heavy enemy artillery concentration and 2 machineguns temporarily halted the patrol, Pfc. Schauer again left cover to engage the enemy weapons single-handed. While shells exploded within 15 yards, showering dirt over him, and strings of grazing German tracer bullets whipped past him at chest level, Pfc. Schauer knelt, killed the 2 gunners of the machinegun only 60 yards from him with a single burst from his BAR, and crumpled 2 other enemy soldiers who ran to man the gun. Inserting a fresh magazine in his BAR, Pfc. Schauer shifted his body to fire at the other weapon 500 yards distant and emptied his weapon into the enemy crew, killing all 4 Germans. Next morning, when shells from a German Mark VI tank and a machinegun only 100 yards distant again forced the patrol to seek cover, Pfc. Schauer crawled toward the enemy machinegun. stood upright only 80 yards from the weapon as its bullets cut the surrounding ground, and 4 tank shells fired directly at him burst within 20 yards. Raising his BAR to his shoulder, Pfc. Schauer killed the 4 members of the German machinegun crew with 1 burst of fire.

[recurveman]

Thomas Alexander Baker (June 25, 1916 – July 7, 1944) was a United States Army soldier who received the U.S. military's highest decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions in World War II during the Battle of Saipan.

For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty at Saipan, Mariana Islands, 19 June to 7 July 1944. When his entire company was held up by fire from automatic weapons and small-arms fire from strongly fortified enemy positions that commanded the view of the company, Sgt. (then Pvt.) Baker voluntarily took a bazooka and dashed alone to within 100 yards of the enemy. Through heavy rifle and machinegun fire that was directed at him by the enemy, he knocked out the strong point, enabling his company to assault the ridge. Some days later while his company advanced across the open field flanked with obstructions and places of concealment for the enemy, Sgt. Baker again voluntarily took up a position in the rear to protect the company against surprise attack and came upon 2 heavily fortified enemy pockets manned by 2 officers and 10 enlisted men which had been bypassed. Without regard for such superior numbers, he unhesitatingly attacked and killed all of them. Five hundred yards farther, he discovered 6 men of the enemy who had concealed themselves behind our lines and destroyed all of them. On 7 July 1944, the perimeter of which Sgt. Baker was a part was attacked from 3 sides by from 3,000 to 5,000 Japanese. During the early stages of this attack, Sgt. Baker was seriously wounded but he insisted on remaining in the line and fired at the enemy at ranges sometimes as close as 5 yards until his ammunition ran out. Without ammunition and with his own weapon battered to uselessness from hand-to-hand combat, he was carried about 50 yards to the rear by a comrade, who was then himself wounded. At this point Sgt. Baker refused to be moved any farther stating that he preferred to be left to die rather than risk the lives of any more of his friends. A short time later, at his request, he was placed in a sitting position against a small tree. Another comrade, withdrawing, offered assistance. Sgt. Baker refused, insisting that he be left alone and be given a soldier's pistol with its remaining 8 rounds of ammunition. When last seen alive, Sgt. Baker was propped against a tree, pistol in hand, calmly facing the foe. Later Sgt. Baker's body was found in the same position, gun empty, with 8 Japanese lying dead before him. His deeds were in keeping with the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.[1]

[McStay]

If your wanting to read up on Medal Of Honor recipients I would suggest reading "Uncommon Valor" it is a story of 6 Medal winners from Afghanistan and Iraq. It just gives a brief history of their life and what led up to them being awarded the Medal Of Honor. Great read and I would recommend it

[mackerely]

Keep 'em coming, brother. These are all epic.

[thomasjkelley]

Amen to that Recurveman! I was just mulling the same damn thing myself. I don't know how any young man age 18-25 can get up on a stage to sing or dance while their contemporaries are risking their lives fighting on foreign battlefields; fighting for the very freedom that they enjoy. I'm not saying that every young man should be enlisting, I'm only saying that they shouldn't be dancing & singing & modeling & just basically craving attention from others. Leave that to the young women. America is a very different country today than on Dec 7th, 1941. Thank God we do have our share of heroes, but I blame the Baby Boomer Generation for disgracing the country with their unparalleled selfishness, greed, & cowardliness. Half of the Boomers rather, I understand that the other half is just along for the ride, I mean the nosedive, like the rest of us.

[serpa6]

Amen to that Recurveman! I was just mulling the same damn thing myself. I don't know how any young man age 18-25 can get up on a stage to sing or dance while their contemporaries are risking their lives fighting on foreign battlefields; fighting for the very freedom that they enjoy. I'm not saying that every young man should be enlisting, I'm only saying that they shouldn't be dancing & singing & modeling & just basically craving attention from others. Leave that to the young women. America is a very different country today than on Dec 7th, 1941. Thank God we do have our share of heroes, but I blame the Baby Boomer Generation for disgracing the country with their unparalleled selfishness, greed, & cowardliness. Half of the Boomers rather, I understand that the other half is just along for the ride, I mean the nosedive, like the rest of us.
I hear you there Bro I come across to many of them In my day you if your family was a military family you followed suit I did Great grandfather, grandfather, 2 of them. My dad my Uncle where all in the military, my oldest and youngest son wanted to join till, a good friend of ours was lost in Afghanistan.
My youngest son did not want to join after that because they where so close and he took it hard and my oldest even though married, was going to till his wife rode him so much that she said she would divorce him if he did because, her brother was in and deployed. She told him If i lose you and him what would i do and his little girl begged him not to.