(#2) Bhanbhagta Gurung
- Dec. at 87 (1921-2008)
A Nepalese Gurkha fighting for Britain, Gurung won the Victoria Cross in 1945 for his insanely courageous attack on five Japanese foxholes that were holding up a Gurkha advance.
Running from position to position, Gurung cleared four with grenades and his bayonet, then he advanced on the final one, a machine gun nest. But he was out of grenades, so he threw a smoke bomb in, stabbed the Japanese troops who emerged with his personal knife, then broke into the machine gun nest and beat the last man with a rock. The position was held against Japanese counterattack thanks to Gurung’s guts and leadership. After WWII, he went back to Nepal to care for his mother, and perished in 2008.
(#18) Robert Cain
Isle of Man native Major Robert Cain fought as a paratrooper in Sicily and Normandy, but the exploits that won him England’s highest honor took place during the abortive Operation Market Garden. Tasked with holding a vital bridge into the strategically important town of Arnhem, Cain held the line with a small group of lightly armed men against German tanks and assault guns. He knocked out one assault gun with a rocket launcher, but the launcher jammed and a round exploded in his face.
Cain was temporarily blinded, but returned to the front line, where his eardrums were blown out by an explosion. He knocked out a feared Tiger tank with an artillery piece, then drove off three more tanks with a rocket launcher. The next day, Cain led the fight against another German counterattack by grabbing a mortar and firing it from his hip at the enemy. His unit was able to withdraw and Cain did what any good English officer does - he shaved.
(#7) Matt Urban
- Dec. at 76 (1919-1995)
Lt. Colonel Matt Urban was the most decorated American officer of WWII, and that’s saying something. He fought in seven campaigns and was wounded seven times. He seemingly came back to life so often that the Germans gave him the nickname “the Ghost.” When he was given the Medal of Honor, his citation referred to 10 separate acts of bravery during just the Normandy campaign.
Just a sample of these includes taking on multiple enemy tanks with a bazooka (while walking on a cane because he’d broken his leg landing on Utah Beach), organizing multiple counterattacks after nearly having his leg blown off, then breaking himself out of the hospital, hitchhiking to the front, immediately throwing himself into battle, running into an abandoned tank, and driving it toward the enemy line with no crew. He was wounded again and again, but refused to be evacuated. Finally, a bullet in the throat took him out of combat for good - but Urban recovered, survived the war, and lived until 1995.
(#5) Eileen Nearne
- Dec. at 89 (1921-2010)
British citizen Eileen Nearne grew up in France but escaped to Britain during the German invasion in 1940. Joining the war effort, her French upbringing proved invaluable and she became a spy for the Special Operations Executive and parachuted into France to go deep undercover, assisting resistance activities and sabotage. In France, Nearne worked under the code name “Rose” and operated a secret radio line between London and Paris that arranged weapons drops to the French Resistance.
Eventually captured by the Gestapo and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp, Nearne was brutally tortured, but never revealed her true identity or affiliation with SOE. She was then shuttled from death camp to death camp, tortured again, and escaped multiple times until US troops found her. She didn’t speak about her time in the war until 1997, and she passed in 2010.
(#3) Charles Joseph Coward
Captured in France in 1940, British soldier Charles Coward would have been notable just for the nearly dozen attempts he made to escape German captivity. But he’s world famous as the guy who broke into and out of a Nazi death camp. In 1943, the Germans decided they were done fooling around with Coward and sent him to Auschwitz, specifically the Monowitz slave labor camp there.
Coward led his fellow Brits in smuggling food to Jewish inmates and passing coded notes to the Red Cross, who sent them back to England. At one point, he actually smuggled himself into the Auschwitz death camp for a night, then smuggled himself out and reported back to the British about what he’d seen. He bribed SS guards, saved at least 400 Jewish laborers, and gave testimony at the Nuremberg Trials.
(#20) Joseph Rochefort
- Dec. at 76 (1900-1976)
As an American codebreaker, Rochefort was instrumental in decoding Japanese communications that pointed to them attempting to invade the strategically critical island of Midway. Rochefort’s team developed a ruse to broadcast a message about a water condenser failing on the island, then waited to see if the Japanese would take the bait.
They did, and Rochefort put together an intelligence profile that pointed to exactly when and where the attack would take place. The US Navy was able to blunt the assault on Midway, and in June 1942, they sank four Japanese aircraft carriers, which turned the tide of the Pacific War. Rochefort’s exploits were virtually unknown - he received no recognition at the time. He passed in 1976.
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About This Tool
Do you know the history of World War II? I believe that everyone has learned some events and heroes about the largest world war in history textbooks during schooltime. World War II is the cruelest war in human history. The war ranged from Europe to Asia, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and 61 countries and regions with more than 2 billion people were involved in the war.
The saddest thing is that the heroes of World War II are leaving every day. Although some important WWII historical figures are well-known throughout the culture, most are not. The random tool introduced 21 brave and selfless WWII heroes you may not have heard of, but who made important contributions to the war.
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