Jacklyn H. Lucas was the youngest person to serve in the military when he enlisted by forging his mother's signature at age 14. Jacklyn H. Lucas was brave not only because he fought at such a young age; he displayed much bravery during the war. One example was when he dove upon two grenades to save his fellow soldiers lives. Miraculously he survived the explosion.
Audie Murphy was one of the bravest soldiers of WWII. Audie is the most decorated soldier in American history. Some of his awards are the medal of honor, the distinguished service cross, the bronze star medal and multiple purple hearts. He killed over 200 Nazis in WWII. One moment of pure bravery was when he got in a tank destroyer that was burning and used its machine gun to stop the advance of a huge company. He also killed a sniper while injured. After the war he became an actor and a songwriter.
Simo Hayha, nicknamed "white death," was a Finnish sniper who fought in the Winter War. The Winter War was a war fought at the beginning of WWII when the Soivet Union invaded Finland. He set a record killing over 500 soviet soldiers with an unscoped rifle. A true testament of Simo's bravery is seen when a bomb exploded in his face leaving him disfigured, yet he lived on to die at the age 97.
Tommy Prince was a member of the Canadian "devils brigade." He was extremely brave sneaking behind enemy lines to approach machine gunners and silently knife them. He once spent 3 days behind enemy lines, reported detailed information and had to disguise himself as a farmer. He received many awards including the military metal and the silver star.
John Churchill was appropriately nicknamed "mad jack". Whilst all the other British soldiers ran out with guns and grenades, Mad Jack carried with him a long bow, his bagpipes, and a broadsword. Surprisingly he was very successful as he not only was the only person to kill an enemy soldier with a cross bow during WWII, but he also captured 42 Germans using just his broadsword.
Yes, these are the bravest male heroes that stood out in the war, but why focus on just the men. Equally there were women that were just as brave that also sacrificed their lives for the greater good. Women such as Nancy Wake and Elsie Ott sacrificed their own safety and comfort to help others as well. Perhaps we need another blog article?
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