From those who displayed fearlessness in battle to those who volunteered for suicide missions that rescued thousands, these people gave their lives for the greater good.
Human being instinctually react at a moment ’s notice during vista of sheer panic . While some immediately turn tail and others aggressively wash up the job to death , a on the face of it opt few resourcefully answer with calculated wiseness . The nine heroes below drop into that latter family .
From a Catholic monk who gave his life during the Holocaust to a Mexican railroad actor who sacrificed himself to protect a town , these figures wasted no clock time adjudicate what benefitted the greater good . record on to learn the incredible story of history ’s most altruistic heroes :
William Pitsenbarger’s Vietnam Rescues
U.S. Air ForceAirman First Class William Pitsenbarger in Vietnam .
William Pitsenbargerwas 21 age old when he was awarded the Air Force Cross for keep fellow soldiers offend in Vietnam . His parent watched proudly as he realise the differentiation on Sept. 22 , 1966 , only for him to be killed in action six month afterwards — while rescue anywhere between 40 to 60 humankind near Saigon .
Born on July 8 , 1944 , in Piqua , Ohio , Pitsenbarger begged his parent to let him fell out of high school to enlist in the U.S. Army . Their refusal watch him graduate in 1962 only to conjoin the Air Force . A unpaid worker for the pararescue service , he was taught how to plunge , survive in tropical climates , and administer first aid .
Pararescue jumper were lowered into combat zones by helicopter to empty wounded soldier . After his deployment to Vietnam in 1965 , Pitsenbarger participated in 300 missions . His fearlessness on March 7 , 1966 , earned him the Airman ’s Medal , Vietnam ’s Medal of Military Merit , and a Gallantry Cross with Bronze Palm .
When the airman heard that a South Vietnamese soldier had lost his human foot and was trapped in a burning minefield , he defied warning that the eggbeater could set up off more landed estate mines — and demanded to be lowered . His bravery earned him a citation for “ complete disregard for his own safety ” and saved the soldier ’s life .
He oppose similarly when 134 soldier of Charlie Company , 2nd Battalion , 16th Infantry of the 1st Infantry Division became surrounded by 400 Vietcong soldiers in the jungle on April 11 , fit in to theProfession of Arms Center for Excellence . With sniper , mortar , and machine - gun fire , his peers faced certain death . The whirlybird could n’t come home the forest , but Pitsenbarger could .
U.S. Air ForceAirman First Class William Pitsenbarger in Vietnam.
“ I could n’t believe that anybody was brave enough or crazy enough to come down on the ground with all this firing going on , ” tell Fred Navarro , a deliver soldier . “ Even though there was 700 gunman firing at the same time , it was to him like nothing was decease on … He must have saved 40 , 50 , 70 guy who are living today . ”
With only a .38 - caliber pistol and first assistance kit in hand , Pitsenbarger fall into the hobo camp . He returned enemy flak while gathering the offend , building stretchers from vine , splints , and branches . After saving at least nine lives and potentially dozens more , he was killed by AK-47 flak — pall a true American hero .
