
We hope you’re enjoying a relaxing Memorial Day weekend while not losing sight of its deeper meaning and the reality that without the sacrifice of those who served, our world today would look very different.
With the reason why we celebrate Memorial Day fresh in our minds, we want to go over the lives of four largely forgotten American soldiers whose commitment to service and willingness to sacrifice represents the best of America.
Here are four heroes that gave what President Abraham Lincoln called the “last full measure of devotion.”
Freddie Stowers

Mrs. Barbara Bush passing the case with the Medal of Honor to Mrs. Georgina Palmer, from Richmond, California (88 years). The Medal of Honor was presented posthumously today at the White House to the sisters of Corporal (CPL) Freddie Stowers, a native of Anderson County South Carolina for action during World War I by President George H. W. Bush. CPL Stowers is the only Black American to receive the Medal for action during World War I. [Photo Credit: Robert Ward, DOD PA, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
Freddie Stowers’ battlefield heroics, forgotten for more than 70 years, were revealed shortly afterward.
While serving in a segregated American unit under French command, officers ordered Stowers’ company to seize a heavily fortified hill in the Ardennes.
The surviving German defenders feigned surrender after the initial American assault, only to eliminate one-half of Stowers’ company in an ambush. As the highest-ranking survivor, Stowers reorganized his comrades and led them in a successful counterattack to seize the German’s first trench line. During his company’s advance on the hill’s second defensive ring, enemy fire hit Stowers twice. He continued to urge his men forward, even after he had collapsed from being mortally wounded. Despite Stowers’ death, his brother-in-arms took the hill that day.
Ben L. Salomon

It appears that one Marine is relieving another on the beach at Saipan but they are really crawling under enemy fire, to their assigned positions. June 1944. Sgt. James Burns. (Marine Corps) Exact Date Shot Unknown NARA FILE #: 127-GR-113-83260 WAR & CONFLICT BOOK #: 1174 [Photo Credit: Sgt. James Burns, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
His fate amid the chaos of battle was initially unknown. Eventually, GIs found his body slumped over a machine gun with 98 dead Japanese soldiers strewn in front of it. He had sustained nearly 200 gunshot and bayonet wounds.
Frank Luke

Photo from the Lou Larson Collection. Repository: San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive [Photo Credit: SDASM Archives, No restrictions, via Wikimedia Commons]
William H. Pitsenbarger

U.S. Army Bell UH-1D helicopters airlift members of the 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry Regiment from the Filhol Rubber Plantation area to a new staging area, during Operation “Wahiawa”, a search and destroy mission conducted by the 25th Infantry Division, northeast of Cu Chi, South Vietnam, 1966. [Photo Credit: James K. F. Dung, SFC, Photographer, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons]
Almost immediately, things went wrong for the Americans. Pitsenbarger had to waive off his air support after the helicopters came under withering small arms fire. During what became known as the Battle of Xa Cam My, he made improvised splints and stretchers, armed the wounded who could fight and led them in a heroic resistance to fend off the encroaching Viet Cong.
This article originally appeared in American Liberty News. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Republican Standard. Republished with permission.