Grandparents

"My Grandpa Liberatus."

"Was working solo on his farm in the 1950’s, when both hands were sucked into an auger slicing them up right to the shoulders. Was able to kick the controls to reverse the blades and get himself out, then drove himself in a grainery truck 45 minutes to the hospital, steering and shifting gears with his knees."

"Doctors were able to save one arm above the elbow but none of the other."

"Still worked another 40 years with hooks for arms, fathered 9 children, 6 after his accident and harvested 1000 acres on a hundred year old family farm."

"Smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, ate red meat 3 times a day, passed away in his sleep 2 days before his 99th birthday."

"He was a hard man, but absolutely devoted to his family and was a great Grandfather to over 20 grandkids. He taught me about resiliency, resourcefulness and mental toughness."

"Every grandkid, on their first birthday, got a rocking horse that he built in his workshop using hand tools that he built custom attachments for his prosthetics."

"I still have mine, from 56 years ago, as a reminder of him when times are tough."

"Grandma was named Elspeth and was a formidable woman in her own right. Raised a family of 11 in a two room farmhouse they lived in until the early 1960’s."

"She outlived Liberatus by 4 years and was always canning and preserving food. When we finally started clearing out their house after her death we found in excess of 10,000 jars of pickled and preserved food n her cellar."

"They were hard people, they had to be, but they were also in love right to the end."

"Married for almost 77 years I still remember them in the living room watching Hockey Night in Canada, holding hands on the couch. His arm around her, her gripping one of his hooks."

~ LOUDCO-HD

Giles Corey

"Giles 'more weight' Corey was pretty badass."

"Refused to testify at the Salem witch trials, so they 'pressed' him."

"They piled rocks on top of him as torture to force him to testify that his wife was a witch. They piled rock after rock on top of him."

"His last words were 'more weight', then he died."

~ epicmoe

Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki

"Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki."

"He purposely made himself be caught and thrown into Nazi death camp in Auschwitz to infiltrate it and organize underground resistance and do general recon."

"He then escaped with another prisoner to fight in Warsaw uprising."

~ IloveZaki

"Not just that, but immediately following the Warsaw Uprising, he was thrown into a German POW camp."

"After the war, he returned to his homeland of Poland, even with the knowledge he would likely be killed by the Polish Communist party for being loyal to the government-in-exile and he was in 1948."

"He had also co-founded the Polish Resistance."

~ designing-cats

Joe Medicine Crow

"Joe Medicine Crow, the last Warchief of the Crow."

"He completed all the ritual rights to become Warchief while fighting in WWII."

"Which included taking an enemies weapon, touching an enemy without killing him, leading a war party and stealing an enemies horse—he stole 50 from the SS."

"The war party came naturally and he got the disarm and the touch without killing at the same time but the horses was going to be challenging."

"They came across some SS holed up in a barn. They surrounded the barn and were waiting for dawn to attack, Joe convinced his CO to let him go and release the horses because they don't deserve to die."

"He snuck past the guard and opened up the whole corral and got onto a horse bareback and rode off with 50 horses while chanting a Crow war song. Meanwhile the Americans are mowing the platoon of SS down as they come out and try to stop Joe from riding off with their horses."

"The dude was a straight up f**king gangster."

~ RIPnts

Desmond Doss

"Private Desmond Doss (Hacksaw Ridge is the movie about his life)."

"He refused to use a gun but carried 75 men to safety including two of the wounded Japanese soldiers on the other side & used his medical knowledge to save their lives."

"He is the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor as awarded by President Harry S. Truman."

~ Redditor

"Hacksaw Ridge is missing a neat fact about him."

"At that battle he was wounded (I think 6 times but I'm not positive) but it was left out of the movie because it was felt to be too unbelievable."

~ Supraman83

Mary Vincent

"Mary Vincent."

"She had her arms amputated a serial killer, was left for dead in a drainage pipe, and somehow got herself to safety and survived."

"She was able to testify, but 14 years was the maximum penalty.

"She worked to get him put on death row after he was released early for good behavior and killed a mother of three in 1998."

~ kittengoesrawr

"She couldn’t afford to buy high-end prosthetic arms, so she created her own using parts from refrigerators and stereo systems, and she taught herself to draw and paint using her inventions."

"A depraved killer cut off her arms, and not only did he only get eight years, but the state couldn't even be bothered to pay for her prosthetic arms."

~ MrDownhillRacer

Galvarino

"Galvarino."

"He was a Mapuche warrior whose hands were amputated by Spanish conquistadors."

"His response?"

"He rigged blades to his wrist stumps and led a rebellion against the Spanish."

~ DontBuyAHorse

Vasily Aleksandrovich Arkhipov

"Vasily Arkhipov, the man who saved the world."

"He was a Soviet naval commander (brigade chief of staff) during the Cuban missile crisis who refused to launch a nuclear weapon.

"The ship he was on required three officers to be in agreement to fire the weapon, and only Arkhipov was against it, despite the potential career and personal repercussions."

"It's possibly apocryphal, but it's said that he swallowed his key so the weapon couldn't be fired unless he was cut open."

"Stanislav Petrov also saved the world from nuclear war in the 80's, and that should never be forgotten, but I'd argue that the stakes were higher for Arkhipov and the threat of nuclear war was much, much more imminent in the midst of a pissing battle between the Kennedy's and Khrushchev."

~ designing-cats

Raul Perez "Roy" Benavidez

"Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez, an Indigenous Yaqui and Mexican member of the Army Special Forces."

"On May 2, 1968, a 12-man Special Forces patrol with nine Montagnard (Indigenous Vietnamese) tribesmen, was surrounded by a North Vietnamese Army (NVA) infantry battalion of about 1,000 men."

"Benavidez heard the radio appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to respond. Armed only with a knife, he jumped from the helicopter carrying his medical bag and ran to help the trapped patrol."

"According to his Medal of Honor commendation, Benavidez 'distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions and because of his gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men'."

"During his Medal of Honor ceremony in 1981, President Ronald Reagan told the press, 'If the story of his heroism were a movie script, you would not believe it'."

"At one point in the battle an NVA soldier accosted him and stabbed him with his bayonet. Benavidez pulled it out, drew his own knife, killed him and kept going, leaving his knife in the NVA soldier's body."

"He later killed two more NVA soldiers with an AK-47 while providing cover fire for the people boarding the helicopter."

"After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. As he was placed in a body bag among the other dead in body bags, he was suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help."

"A doctor came and examined him but believed Benavidez was dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face to show that he was alive."

"Benavidez had a total of 37 separate bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six-hour fight with the enemy battalion."

~ ComesInAnOldBox

But, there's more...

"His Medal of Honor isn’t even the craziest part. Let’s talk about his career before that."

"In 1965 he stepped on a landmine, and doctors said he would never walk again. He was so upset by this diagnosis that against doctors orders he secretly got up in the middle of the night and rehabilitated himself."

"Benavidez would crawl using his elbows and chin to a wall near his bedside and (with the encouragement of his fellow patients, many of whom were permanently paralyzed and/or missing limbs) he would prop himself against the wall and attempt to lift himself unaided, starting by wiggling his toes, then his feet, and then eventually (after several months of excruciating practice that, by his own admission, often left him in tears) pushing himself up the wall with his ankles and legs."

"After over a year of hospitalization, Benavidez walked out of the hospital in July 1966, with his wife at his side."

~ iamspartacus5339

Benavidez served in the Texas Army National Guard beginning in 1952 at age 17 during the Korean War until 1955 when he enlisted in active duty Army where he served until retiring in 1976 at age 41.

In retirement, Benavidez became a public speaker, volunteered for youth organizations and wrote three autobiographies: The Three Wars of Roy Benavidez, The Last Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor: A Vietnam Warrior's Story.

He died on November 29, 1998, at the age of 63. Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez was buried with full military honors at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery.

There are some definite bad@sses in this list.

Who would you add?