Forgotten Heroes

True stories of US and Canadian soldiers, lost in the archives. Medal citations, war diaries, forgotten heroes. Every story sourced. Daily.

[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

Every war leaves heroes behind in the archives. Medal citations no one reads. War diaries in boxes. Names on stones.

This account digs them out. True stories of American and Canadian soldiers, one a day, every story sourced.

Follow so they're not forgotten twice.

[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

He lies at Groesbeek Canadian War Cemetery. Latchford named a bridge for him in 1986. Does your family have a tie to the Queen's Own Rifles?
https://t.co/GlufVt26nO
Photo: Government of Canada
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Forgotten Heroes

[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

At 17 he left school to work on a northern Ontario railway. At 23, a Queen's Own Rifles sergeant, he took charge of the last four men in his platoon, stood in front of a tank under fire, and walked alone into three German-held farm buildings.
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

He then cleared the second and third buildings alone. His Victoria Cross citation says he killed at least twenty of the enemy and took an equal number prisoner. Just after, a sniper shot him dead. He was 23.
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

A medal was refused for decades because he was a medical officer who had taken up arms. On May 1, 2002, it was presented at the White House.
Did anyone in your family serve on Saipan?
https://t.co/gu3DRMo1FY
Photo: 105th Infantry, Saipan (DVIDS)
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

One of only three dentists awarded the Medal of Honor died holding a machine gun. On Saipan, Capt. Ben Salomon ordered the wounded out of his overrun aid tent, then stayed behind. When troops recaptured it, 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of him.
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

He grabbed a rifle and ran out. After four men were killed manning a machine gun, he took it to cover their escape. His body was later found at the gun, covered with bullet and bayonet wounds. 98 dead enemy soldiers were piled in front of his position.
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

Freed when Oran fell, he was carried through its streets in triumph. On Nov 13 his flying boat crashed off Plymouth and he died. No known grave. Did anyone in your family serve at sea in WWII?
https://t.co/9e1RSc0dOa
Photo: HMS Walney, IWM (PD)
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Forgotten Heroes

[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

On this day in 1942, a 53-year-old sailor from PEI drove a small ship through a harbour boom at Oran, Algeria, into point-blank fire. Of the 17 men on his bridge, he alone lived. Veterans Affairs Canada calls him Canada's most decorated naval hero.
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

Around 3 am on Nov 8 they broke through the boom. Shore guns and French warships opened fire. Wounded and blinded in one eye, Peters still berthed Walney at the jetty, then helped secure her mooring lines so troops could land. She sank ablaze, colours flying. He was captured.
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[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

Lucas died 5 June 2008 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, at 80. Buried at Highland Cemetery.

Would a 17-year-old cover two grenades for three strangers today?

https://t.co/fPO9Swou8v
Photo: PFC Jacklyn H. Lucas, USMC (PD)
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Forgotten Heroes

[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

He forged his mother's signature at 14 to join the Marines. At 17, on Iwo Jima, he threw himself on not one but two Japanese grenades to save three men - and lived. Youngest Medal of Honor recipient of World War II.

A thread... 1/6

[Forgotten Heroes @forgottenheros8]

One grenade exploded. Over 250 pieces of shrapnel tore into him. Left for dead, he was found alive. After 26 surgeries, Pres. Truman pinned the Medal of Honor on him 5 Oct 1945 - youngest Marine ever so honored. Later survived a double parachute failure as an Army jumper.

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