Desmond Doss. If you’ve seen the film Hacksaw Ridge then you know the man. Doss saved 75 men during the Battle of Okinawa as well as being the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor. He was a Seventh-day Adventist, not wanting to harm enemy soldiers. Doss was a medic. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and is the subject of the documentary The Conscientious Objector.

Rochefort was a codebreaker, instrumental in decoding Japanese communications that thwarted attempts to invade the strategically critical island of Midway. A ruse about a water supply failure on the island was created to bait the Japanese. Rochefort knew when and where the Japanese were to attack. Rochefort’s exploits were unknown even though the US Navy was able to sink four Japanese ships as a result of his work. He died in 1976.

Joan Pujol agreed to spy for Nazi Germany but only because he wanted to be a double agent for Britain. “Garbo” ran a network of informants and spies all paid by Germany. None of those spies existed with Garcia just passing on false info to the Germans. His dangerous work altered the war. Joan’s role in Operation Fortitude paid off with the deception plan to keep German forces away from where the D-Day landings were actually going to take place. Pujol won the Iron Cross for supplying info to Germany. He then received the Order of the British Empire for making it all up.

Major Robert Cain won England’s highest honor for his heroics in Operation Market Garden. He was to hold a vital bridge into the strategically important town of Arnhem so Cain held the line with a small group of soldiers. German tanks and assault guns rained fire on Cain and his men. He took out one assault gun with a rocket launcher with the round exploding in his face. Temporarily blinded, Cain fought back disabling a Tiger tank with an artillery piece. Just one of six he took out with blown out eardrums. The following day, Cain fired a mortar from his hip, taking on the Germans once more.

Soviet fighter pilot Alexey Maresyev went down behind enemy lines on April 5, 1942. He spent 18 days making his way back to Soviet territory but his condition was so severe that both legs had to be amputated. Alexey wanted revenge so he spent the next year learning to master prosthetic devices so he could fly and fight again. In the summer of 1943, Alexey shot down three German fighter planes. With 11 kills in total, he was awarded the highest honor in the USSR, the status of Hero of the Soviet Union.

Soviet peasant Matvey Kuzmin was bribed by a German commander who wanted to know how to breach the Soviet line. Kuzmin did so but he also sent his son to warn the Russian troops. Kuzmin led the Germans through a supposed safe area before the Russians ambushed the Germans taking out about 70 soldiers. The German commander turned on Kuzmin and shot the 83-year-old. He won the Hero of the Soviet Union medal for his bravery.

Norwegian commando Jan Baalsrud and his comrades were discovered by German troops so they had to scuttle their ship. They attempted to escape but their lifeboat was sunk by German gunfire. Baalsrud swam in freezing water, evading capture on shore (having only one boot). He then shot a Gestapo officer, then spent two months eluding the Germans. The cold was punishing. Baalsrud lost his sight, suffered a major head injury, then had frostbite so bad he amputated nine of his 10 toes himself without any equipment. He escaped, got into Finland then to Sweden.

“Mad Jack” made a name for himself as being the only soldier to carry a longbow and basket-hilted Scottish broadsword. Churchill achieved the only longbow kill of WWII when he shot down a German soldier in France. Or so they say. He bravely led Commando raids in Norway and Yugoslavia, capturing and killing enemy soldiers before being captured. He escaped then was captured again. Lucky for him, he was released by sympathetic German soldiers. After all the fighting he did, Churchill became a surfer.

Scottish Commando Tommy Macpherson was notoriously known to the Germans as the “Kilted Killer.” Macpherson was captured in a raid on Erwin Rommel’s headquarters. He escaped, was captured, and escaped again before making his way back to Scotland. He then assisted French Resistance fighters. They blew up bridges, ambushed convoys, and made life hell for the Germans. He was a nightmare so much so that a bounty was placed on his head.

Bong was the “Ace of Aces.” He shot down at least 40 Japanese aircraft in less than three years. Bong had taken out 27 planes and by April of 1944, the Air Force wanted him to instruct new pilots. Bong preferred to fly and fight. He was awarded the Medal of Honor in December 1944 before becoming a test pilot for the then-new P-80 jet fighter. In August of 1945, Richard died in a crash at the young age of 25.

George Vujnovich was an intelligence operative who was responsible for smuggling over 500 downed Allied airmen out of what was Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. A three-man team entered the area via parachutes disguising themselves as Serbian nationals. They worked with locals and Allied fliers to set up an airstrip allowing George to organize a series of flights. He flew 512 men out of an incredibly dangerous region. They were never detected. Vujnovich passed away in 20212. He was 96.

American officer Lewis Millett hitchhiked to Canada and joined Canada’s Army when he heard President Roosevelt declare that America wouldn’t join the war. He eventually joined the US Army after a few missions in London. Millett showed insane bravery when he got into a burning, ammunition-filled half-track only to drive it away from fellow soldiers. He jumped out before it exploded. Millett wasn’t satisfied, shooting down a German plane with a machine gun. He also fought in Korea, leading the last bayonet charge in American military history.

Master Sergeant Llewellyn Chilson was known as the “One Man Army”. He was so brave, President Truman personally pinned seven medals on him after WWII. Chilson was on the Rhine River in March 1945 where he took down German guns and vehicles. He lit an ammo wagon on fire to track down enemy soldiers, before capturing 200 German soldiers. Weeks after, Chilson stood on a tank turret spotting for the tank’s cannon amidst heavy fire. He never got the Medal of Honor but did survive the war.

Lt. Col. Matt Urban was the most decorated American officer of WWII. Germans gave him the nickname “the Ghost” as Urban would often be wounded but would come back and fight. 10 separate acts of bravery during the Normandy campaign saw him receive the Medal of Honor. Urban took on multiple enemy tanks with a bazooka (with a broken leg), broke himself out of the hospital so he could rejoin the battle where he took a tank and drove it alone to enemy lines. He took a bullet in the throat that took him out of battle. Urban recovered and survived.

Lachhiman Gurung won the Victoria Cross for his heroic actions in May 1945. Gurung single-handedly fought 200 Japanese soldiers advancing on him and his men when they were wounded. He literally only had one arm as a Japanese grenade exploded in his right hand. He lost his fingers with damage on his face and body. Gurung ignored his wounds, choosing instead to fight, displaying the courage and cunning of the Nepalese Gurkha soldiers.

Eileen Nearne grew up in France then escaped to Britain when Germany invaded in 1940. She became a spy for the Special Operations Executive, carrying out missions using her code name “Rose”. Nearne was captured and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. She was tortured but her captors never got her to leak info. “Rose” spent a lot of time in concentration camps where she was tortured before US troops found her. Nearne passed away in 2010.

Soviet soldier Ivan Pavlovich was a cook for the 91st Tank Regiment of the Red Army. It was in August 1941 when a German tank got too close for comfort. Ivan was alone so he grabbed a rifle and an ax and waited for the Germans to exit the stalled tank. He charged at them, the German soldiers climbing back into the tank. Pavlovich climbed on as well, chopping the machine gun barrel as he asked his pretend comrades outside for a grenade. The Germans surrendered.

British soldier Charles Coward is known as the guy who broke into and out of a Nazi death camp. In fact he was notorious for this. The Germans were so fed up with Coward that they sent him to Auschwitz. Coward took advantage as he smuggled food to Jewish inmates where he also passed coded notes to the Red Cross and England. Charles even smuggled himself into the Auschwitz death camp for a night just so he could gather more info.

Gurung was a Nepalese Gurkha fighting for Britain. His attack on five Japanese foxholes had him receiving the Victoria Cross in 1945. Gurung used grenades to clear four before setting on the final one which was a machine gun nest. He threw a smoke bomb inside then stabbed the Japanese troops with his personal knife. Gurung made his way into the nest and beat the last man with a rock. His brave act had them holding the position against the Japanese. He went back to Nepal after the war and died in 2008.

Kingsbury received the UK’s highest honor in August 1942 for delaying a Japanese advance. He ran toward the Japanese line alone as he screamed and fired a huge Bren gun from the hip. His act motivated his comrades as they advanced, pushing the enemy back as they gained the advantage. Kingsbury was fatally shot by a sniper during the advance but his brace actions turned the tide of the battle.