These stories of military heroism, focusing on members of the Legion of Valor, offer a sweeping study of courage in service to America. Published in conjunction with the Legion of Valor of the United States of America, Courage in Combat shares the stories of military heroes from the Civil War onward. They are recipients of the Medal of Honor, the Distinguished Service Cross, the Navy Cross, and the Air Force Cross. Their awards are our nation’s highest military decorations, given only to one in twenty thousand combatants. Among them are sergeants and generals, as well as corpsmen, civilians, engineers, “grunts,” and paratroopers. There are men and women, a mess attendant, aviators, spies and POWs, a cavalry scout, candidates for sainthood, and a president of the United States. The stories of these brave individuals relate personal accounts of heroism, as well as reflections on combat and war. This book also includes a short history of the Legion of Valor, America’s oldest military service organization, and an extensive list of its members, past and present. Courage in Combat explores the concept of courage through the lives, thoughts, and actions of this elite group—most of whom would say, “I was just doing my job.”

Linderman traces each soldier's path from the exhilaration of enlistment to the disillusionment of battle to postwar alienation. He provides a rare glimpse of the personal battle that raged within soldiers then and now.

An anthology of pieces by and about the recipients of the United States' highest decorations, focusing on the theme of courage in combat.

How does an ordinary person become a hero? It happens in a split second, a moment of focus and clarity, when a choice is made. Here are the gripping accounts of Medal of Honor recipients who demonstrated guts and selflessness on the battlefield and confronted life-threatening danger to make a difference. There are the stories of George Sakato and Vernon Baker—both of whom overcame racial discrimination to enlist in the army during World War II (Sakato was a second-generation Japanese American, Baker an African American) and went on to prove that heroes come in all colors—and Clint Romesha, who led his outnumbered fellow soldiers against a determined enemy to prevent the Taliban from taking over a remote U.S. Army outpost in Afghanistan. Also included are civilians who have been honored by the Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation for outstanding acts of bravery in crisis situations, from a school shooting to the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Adding depth and context are illuminating essays on the combat experience and its aftermath, covering topics such as overcoming fear; a mother mourning the loss of her son; and “surviving hell” as a prisoner of war.

Offers a vivid narrative of the seventy-seven-day struggle to control the remote Khe Sanh base in Vietnam, during which a severely outnumbered and isolated group of Marines held off an enemy onslaught, in a multimedia history that features firsthand remin

The Costs of Courage is one of the very few comprehensive volumes that shed a light on the needs of US military personnel and their families. The authors introduce social workers and other helping professionals to the dynamic warrior culture of the US military and their families and provides practitioners with the cultural competence necessary to successfully interact with members of this culture. This book includes best practices and eclectic approaches that encourage social workers and other mental health professionals to better consider the needs of our military and their families. The text contains the most up-to-date subject matter on social work with military personnel and their families, including thorough descriptions of major conditions suffered by members of the warrior culture in the past and present. Relevant topics such as suicide, sexual assault, veteran issues, and Don't Ask, Don't Tell, Don't Pursue, are discussed. The content is accented with a glossary of commonly used military terms and acronyms.

Profiles of the 98 German soldiers--out of millions--who received both the Knight's Cross (for extreme bravery) and the Close-Combat Clasp in Gold (for at least 50 days of hand-to-hand fighting) during World War II.