Remembering Two WWII Heroes

I watched a youtube video about seven warriors who faced long odds. Two were American. Here are facts culled from their profiles at Wiki, edited by yours truly:

Born in Milwaukee, Benjamin Lewis Salomon, an Army dentist, was assigned as a front-line surgeon during WWII. When the Japanese started overrunning his hospital, he performed a rear-guard action he had no hope of surviving, allowing the safe evacuation of the wounded, killing as many as 98 enemy troops before being killed himself during the Battle of Saipan 7/7/1944. He was 29. At first the Medal of Honor was denied him because a General decided to strictly follow the rules of the Geneva Convention, which states “no medical officer can bear arms against the enemy.” The award was finally approved in 1970.

Born in Georgia, Army Pvt. John McKinney had stood guard duty and just gone to his tent in the early hours of 4/11/1945 on the island of Luzon, Philippines. A Japanese force slipped past the guard post. Sgt. Fukutaro Morii threw open McKinney’s tent flap and slashed down with his sword, no doubt to minimize the sound of the as-yet undetected attack. He severed part of McKinney’s ear. McKinney grabbed his rifle and bashed Morii in the chin and finished him off with another blow to the head. Over the next 36 minutes, he protected the flank of his company and his sleeping comrades by killing 38 of the enemy. He did so through point-blank, kill-or-be-killed encounters as well as rapid-fire shots with various M1 rifles he picked up and fired at charging hordes. Early in the engagement, he returned to his foxhole where he eliminated first one wave and then part of the second wave of the main attack force. Several in the second wave made it to the foxhole. McKinney shot and then clubbed his assailants in hand-to-hand combat. His heroism earned him the country’s highest award. He died at 76 in 1997.

From foxnews.com, edited by yours truly: Secrets of the Dead: World War Speed, airing tonight at eight on PBS in NYC, reveals that Nazi soldiers were given the methamphetamine Pervitin, while American and British forces used Pervitin obtained from Nazi forces, and Benzedrine, and lots of coffee. They were decades ahead of the Hollywood theme.

It was a sleepy session of the floating book shop, the humidity sapping energy. The most exciting moments were supplied by two women cleaning up after their dogs. My thanks to the Quiet Man, who bought three DVDs, and to Ira, who purchased a little pictorial on fighter planes; and to Alice, who went for The Fifth Horseman by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro.

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