When John Cahill graduated from high school, college was not an option for him. He knew that meant he would soon be drafted. So he decided to enlist, and his U.S. Army veteran father convinced him to

Al Hansen joined the U.S. Navy when he was 16 years old, both to serve his country and to help his mother keep a roof over her head. Initially trained as a dive bomber, Hansen was later shifted to a B

Both of August O'Niell's parents served in the U.S. Air Force, and he followed suit thinking of a few years of service would pay for his college education. Instead, O'Niell overcame huge odds to becom

George Elliott joined the U.S. Army National Guard when he was just sixteen because he told recruiters he was seventeen. Before turning twenty, Elliott would be in Korea, serving as a driver for troop

Ludwig Faistenhammer was born in Germany but his family moved to the U.S. before the Nazis rose to power. After the U.S. entered World War II, he joined the Army, never once deterred by having to figh

Paul "Bud" Haedike was drafted into the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1943. Before long he was assigned as a togglier bombardier on a B-17 bomber crew. From the final months of 1944 into 1945, Sgt. Haedike t

Jim Leavelle had a front row seat to two of the most shocking moments of the 20th Century, serving in the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Whitney when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 a

Jack Moran grew up in Wisconsin, joined the Army, and was deployed to France in the autumn of 1944. Over the next several months, Moran his his fellow soldiers in the 87th Infantry Division would see

Bob Edwards went through the Army ROTC program at Lafayette College and was commissioned as an officer in 1960. Soon, he was on his way to Germany at a very sensitive time in the Cold War as Berlin wa

Retired U.S. Air Force Brigadier General Steve Ritchie excelled at every level in the Air Force, from the gridiron at the Air Force Academy to flight training to the skies over Vietnam. Fifty years af