John Basilone is one of the most legendary figures in the history of the United States Marine Corps. He was born in Buffalo, New York and enlisted in the US Army in 1934. After his three year enlistment ended, Basilone left the Army and later enlisted in the Marines in 1940.
Basilone was a sergeant when the Guadalcanal offensive began, and in October 1942, he was leading a forward section of Marines manning two .30-caliber machine guns when their battalion was attacked by nearly 3,000 Japanese. The 25-year-old Basilone and his men stood their ground, and at one point Basilone fired one of the heavy machine guns while gripping the iron hot barrel with his bare hands, suffering severe burns. Basilone was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions, and returned to the United States to recover from his injury and help promote the sale of war bonds. He could have remained stateside but insisted on returning to combat. In February 1945, Basilone was killed in the opening hours of the US invasion of Iwo Jima.
