Vincent Speranza was born to immigrant Italian parents in New York City. When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, Speranza's father stressed to his boys that they were Americans and that America must

Lester Schrenk joined the U.S. Army Air Forces on his 19th birthday in November 1942. Even though he still sees perfectly today, he was told he could not become a pilot due to poor eyesight. So this M

Roy Gleason grew up near Chicago and fell in love with baseball while watching Cubs games with his grandfather. As a young teenager, he learned he had a tremendous amount of talent. After moving to Ca

Louis Bourgault was 16 years old when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor - too young to formally join the military. After his father rejected a teenage plot to go join the Canadian forces, Bourgault e

John 'Lucky" Luckadoo wanted to join the war effort against Nazi Germany even before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He and a friend hatched a plan to join the service in Canada until Lucky's fat

Dakota Meyer decided to have some fun with the U.S. Marine recruiter visiting his high school. Within minutes he had a change of heart and signed up to serve. Meyer would serve in Iraq and Afghanistan

Russell "Rusty" Schweikart grew up with a great interest in aviation and watching the planes fly around Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey. So it was no surprise when he joined the U.S. Air For

Howard Hill attended the U.S. Air Force Academy and went on to flight training, where he became a radio intercept officer (RIO). Deployed to Vietnam as a backseater on an F-4, Hill flew many missions,

Whitey Johnson was a farm kid from Minnesota who had the chance to fly a crop duster when he was a teenager. The day after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, he stood in line to join the U.S. Army A

Randy Bresnik was born into a family that already had an aviation legacy. His father was a U.S. Army Air Cavalry helicopter pilot in Vietnam and his grandfather spent five years as the official photog