Butch O'Hare - Saved the Lexington

A formation of Japanese bombers approached the Lexington and six Wildcats roared off the Lexington's deck to stop them. O'Hare and his wingman were the only two in position and the wingman's guns jammed.   Butch O'Hare alone stood alone between the Lexington and the bombers.

O'Hare roared Full throttle into the enemy formation. While tracers from the concentrated fire of the nine bombers streaked around him. He broke up the attack and downed five bombers.

 The Wildcats took care of several more bombers and Lexington managed to evade the few bombs that were released.

Roy Benavidez - Saved a platoon in Vietnam A 12-man team monitoring enemy troop movements in the jungle had found itself surrounded by a North Vietnamese army battalion and called for help. The helicopter reached the men - Benavidez  jumped out and was shot in the leg and hit by a grenade. He dragged the dead and wounded aboard  the copter and as it took off it  was shot down. Benavidez pulled the wounded from the wreckage and called in air support. Finally a second copter came in and Benavidez loaded that one.

He was shot again and bayoneted. He got on the helicopter holding his intestines in. When they got back to the base he was unconscious with countless bullet holes and they put him with the dead. When he moved they couldn't believe it.

Sgt. Randall Shughart and Gary Gordan

On October 3, 1993 in Mogadishu, Somalia these two were in a copter provided air support when another blackhawk was shot down. Gordan and Shughart learned that ground forces were not immediately available to secure the site and they volunteered to be inserted to protect the four critically wounded personnel. There were hundreds of  enemy personnel closing in on the crash site.