John Basilone

John Basilone (November 4, 1916 – February 19, 1945) was a United States Marine Corps gunnery sergeant who received the Medal of Honor for actions during the Battle for Henderson Field in the Guadalcanal campaign, and the Navy Cross posthumously for extraordinary heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was the only enlisted Marine to receive both of these decorations in World War II.

Basilone enlisted in the Marine Corps on June 3, 1940, after serving three years in the United States Army with duty in the Philippines. He was deployed to Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and in August 1942, he took part in the invasion of Guadalcanal. In October, he and the two machine-gun sections under his command held off an attack by a numerically far superior Japanese force. He was one of only three Marines in that group to survive. His actions at Guadalcanal earned him the Medal of Honor. This led to him being called home for a war bond tour, which made him nationally famous.

Basilone would later re-enlist with the Marines, and in 1945 was killed in action on the first day of the invasion of Iwo Jima, after he led the charge to destroy a Japanese blockhouse and while leading a Marine tank under fire safely through a minefield. Including the Medal of Honor, he has received many posthumous honors, including having base streets, military facilities, and two United States Navy destroyers named in his honor. Basilone would gain renewed attention as one of the protagonists of the 2010 television miniseries The Pacific, in which he was portrayed by Jon Seda.