Category: Real Soldiers

The Fort Benning Bayonet reports that two years, Second Lieutenant Robert Fetters while he was still a West Point Cadet and training at the Pentagon, witnessed a woman who was struck by a subway train in downtown Washington, DC. Fetters, without regard to his own safety, leaped onto the tracks and crawled under the train to rescue the woman.

Her legs were severed, so the young cadet applied tourniquets to the remaining portions of her legs, stanching the loss of blood and probably saving her life. Now a Lieutenant, and graduating from the Army’s Infantry Officer Basic Course, he was awarded the Soldiers Medal.

Fetters, who graduated IBOLC just after he was given the medal, said it felt good to receive the award, but said the real heroes are the ones who are deployed right now.

“I’m a Soldier, just like any other. And there are many people overseas who do this type of thing every day,” he said. “I just did what was necessary under the circumstances.”

IBOLC Graduate received Soldier's Medal from Fort Benning Television on Vimeo.

2LT Robert Fetters was awarded with the highest honor a soldier can receive for an act of valor in a non-combat situation.

David sends us a link to Defense.gov News which tells the story of Army Rangers Specialist Luke Smith, Sergeant Khali Pegues, and Sergeant Brian Miller who were cleaning up after a unit party at a community pool at Fort Benning, Georgia when they heard a woman scream because a six-year-old girl had drowned. The Rangers leaped into action. Specialist Smith who had some training in CPR and lifesaving techniques began applying that training to the situation;

Smith and Miller assessed that the child was unconscious and had no pulse. In addition, the child’s abdomen was swollen and her lips were blue, Smith said. The soldiers immediately started CPR. As Smith began chest compressions, he called for the child’s father to begin rescue breathing.

He instructed the father to do half-breaths, so the child’s lungs would not overexpand. After the second cycle of CPR, Smith said he began to fear the worst.

“As I was giving her chest compressions, I was staring her in the face and praying,” said Smith. “Please God, let me save this little girl.”

So read the whole story at the link. RLTW!

On January 6, 1945, Horace Appleby and his unit from Echo Company, 180th Infantry Regiment withdrew under heavy fire from their positions. When they got to cover, Horace noticed that one of his friends was missing, so he plunged back into the heavy fire and guided his friend to relative safety. For his actions that day, 31-year-old PFC Appleby was awarded the Silver Star Medal, but according to the Toledo Blade, Horace, now 101-years-old, said “I didn’t think much about it”. His family, however wondered about what he did in the war, and did the research which unearthed the heroic story;

Thursday, U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) presented Mr. Appleby with 10 medals for his service during World War II. His medals, many of which he didn’t know he was entitled to until his great-niece, Renee Hahn of Perrysburg, started inquiring about his personnel records, include the Silver Star, Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal, Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award, Honorable Service Lapel Button, and the Marksman Badge with rifle bar.

“He’s the family treasure,” Mrs. Hahn said. “You better believe it.”

The 180th Infantry Regiment produced four Medal of Honor recipients during their 511 days in combat in Europe; 2nd Lieutenant Ernest Childers, Private First Class William Johnston, 1st Lieutenant Jack Montgomery and Captain Jack Treadwell. I guess that Mr. Appleby would be the first to admit that he served with a regiment of heroes.

Chief Tango sends us a link to the story of Curtis Jackson, a sanitation worker and former Marine who thwarted a convenience store robbery;

“I noticed a gentleman with his hand, at first; I didn’t know what it was. I saw him just like this pointing what appeared to be a weapon at the cashier. I thought it was a weapon, I thought it was a gun,” Jackson said.

Without so much as a second to think, the 44-year-old quickly and quietly weaved through the 7-Eleven’s aisles and snuck up behind the would be thief.

“I just crept down, came this way, and I walked and I saw him and I ran up on him and I just grabbed what I thought was the weapon and shook it away,” Jackson said.

Luckily, the thief, Nicholas Mecina, wasn’t armed, he had a tube of lip balm or a magic marker that he held as if it was a gun, but, neither Jackson nor the clerk knew it at the time. Mecina is homeless and has a long history of encounters with the justice system.

“I just wanted to stop what was going on. I didn’t want to get shot. I didn’t want my partner to get shot. I didn’t want the cashier to get shot. I just wanted everyone to go home safe,” Jackson said. “I don’t feel like a hero, I just feel like I did something that should have been done.”

A quote from the New York Times;

“All I wanted to do was to use the bathroom,” [Jackson] said. “And then all of this happened. But that’s just taking out the garbage.”

Chief Tango sends us a link to DVIDS which reports that SSG Jeremy Samuels, a medic with the 160th Specials Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR), was awarded the Soldiers Medal for his actions on August 2, last year when he encountered a three vehicle accident on his drive near Fort Campbell;

Without hesitation, Samuels parked his vehicle and sprinted toward one of the vehicles, ignoring the 2-foot-high flames projecting from the engine compartment.

Samuels attempted to open the door of the burning vehicle, but because of the its extensive damage, the door wouldn’t budge. As the flames grew higher and started spreading across the rest of the vehicle, Samuels used a closed pocketknife to strike the window until it shattered and removed the female passenger from the flame-engulfed vehicle.

Samuels used his advanced medical training to assess the passengers from each of the three vehicles and applied first-aid treatment to those who needed it; ignoring wounds he sustained while extracting the first passenger.

According to Fox8, two cars collided head-on and burst into flames in Chatham County, North Carolina. Army Captain Steve Voglezon happened upon the scene and didn’t hesitate to act;

Voglezon used a fire extinguisher to break the windows of the car and rescue the couple inside the Acura.

“I picked up the other gentleman, took him to safety, while the officer was trying to free the other woman on the other side of the vehicle,” Capt. Voglezon told WNCN.

You can see the conflagration in this video and watch the young captain plunge into the flames to extricate the victims;

13 WTHR Indianapolis

Thanks to Chief Tango for the links.

The White House announces today that two more Medals of Honor will be awarded to two heroes of the Great War; Sergeant William Shemin of Company G, 2nd Battalion, 47th Infantry Regiment, 4th Division, and then-Private (now Sergeant) Henry Lincoln “Black Death” Johnson of Company C, 369th Infantry Regiment, 93rd Division will receive the awards posthumously.

Both men were awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for their actions, but it has been upgraded to the Medal of Honor. The DSC citation for Sergeant William Shemin reads;

[O]n the Vesle River, near Bazoches, France, 7, 8, and 9 August 1918[,] Sergeant Shemin upon three different occasions left cover and crossed an open space 150 yards, exposed to heavy machine-gun and rifle fire, to rescue wounded. After officers and senior noncommissioned officers had become casualties, Sergeant Shemin took command of the platoon and displayed great initiative under fire until wounded on 9 August.

Private Henry Johnson’s citation reads;

While on a double sentry night duty, Private Johnson and a fellow soldier were attacked by a raiding party of Germans numbering almost twenty, wounding both. When the Germans were within fighting distance, he opened fire, shooting one of them and seriously wounding two more. The Germans continued to advance, and as they were about to be captured Private Johnson drew his bolo knife from his belt and attacked the Germans in a hand-to-hand encounter. Even though having sustained three grenade and shotgun wounds from the star, Private Johnson went to the rescue of his fellow soldier who was being taken prisoner by the enemy. He kept on fighting until the Germans were chased away. Private Johnson’s personal courage and total disregard for his own life reflect great credit upon himself, the 369th United States Infantry Regiment, the United States Army, and the United States of America.

Johnson was the first US soldier to be awarded the Croix de Guerre with star and Gold Palm from the French government in the war and his actions that night earned him the nickname “Black Death” out of respect for his bravery.

Sergeant Shemin’s daughter, Ms. Elsie Shemin-Roth will accept the award in his stead, while Command Sergeant Major Louis Wilson, New York National Guard will stand in for Sergeant Johnson.