7th Nov You won't believe the bravery of this hero 🎖️

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Today we celebrate the incredible bravery of.......

John Basilone

John was a Medal of Honor winner and national hero of WWII. You wouldn't believe the bravery of this man, read below to find out.

John Basilone was a United States Marine who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during World War II when in Guadalcanal, he commanded 2 machine gun sections and was only 1 of 3 Marines to survive against a numerically greatly superior enemy of Japanese. More of that to come shortly.

Basilone was born in Buffalo, New York, on November 4, 1916, to Italian immigrants Salvatore and Domenica Basilone. The family moved to Raritan, New Jersey, when he was two years old. He dropped out of school in his freshman year and took a series of odd jobs before enlisting in the Army National Guard's 103rd Infantry Regiment in 1934 and transferred to the Marines in 1940.

Basilone was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. He saw action in the Pacific Theater and it was here, in the Battle of Guadalcanal, Basilone won the Medal of Honor for his actions on October 24th, 1942. He was in charge of two sections of heavy machine guns that were providing covering fire for Marine units attacking Japanese positions. When one of the guns jammed, Basilone single-handedly repaired it while under fire from enemy soldiers. He then took over another gun that had been knocked out of action, and continued to fire at the enemy until he was ordered to withdraw. His actions helped the Marines to take control of the area.

After being wounded on Guadalcanal, Basilone was reassigned to the United States where he trained Marines and gave war bond speeches. While stationed at Camp Pendleton, Basilone met his future wife, Lena Mae Riggi, who was a sergeant in the Marine Corps Woman's Reserve and they married. 7 months later Basilone's request to go back to the front line was approved. 

He joined the 27th Marine Regiment, 5th Marine Division and on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima as a machine gun section leader on the Red Beach II, Basilone single-handedly took out an entire strong point.  

He then fought the way towards an airfield and was helping a Marine tank to negotiate a mine field under heavy artillery fire. On this day February 19th 1945 Basilone was killed by a burst of small arms fire. He was posthumously awarded the Navy Cross. 

He could have continued his celebrity life post Medal of Honor but decided he needed to be with his brothers on the front line where he made the ultimate sacrifice. Its difficult to put into words how grateful we are to this true American hero. RIP

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