He was a surgeon, not a soldier. But on July 7, 1944, on the island of Saipan, Benjamin L. Salomon made a choice that would define what it means to refuse to abandon those in your care.
Japanese forces broke through the American lines at dawn. His medical station, just 50 yards behind the front, suddenly became a battlefield. When enemy soldiers entered the tent attacking wounded Americans, Salomon grabbed a rifle. He fought with whatever he had—a rifle, a bayonet, his bare hands. But he could see the position collapsing. The wounded couldn't fight. The defensive lines were failing.
He ordered his medical personnel to evacuate as many injured men as possible. Then he stayed.
Outside, he found an abandoned .30-caliber Browning machine gun—its four crewmen already fallen. The 28-year-old Army surgeon took their place and opened fire. Every moment he held that position gave the wounded another chance to escape. Every moment brought him closer to the end.
When American forces recovered the position, they found 98 Japanese soldiers lying dead in front of his gun. Salomon was still there, slumped over the weapon. Army doctors who examined his body documented 76 bullet holes, additional bayonet wounds, and at least 24 injuries inflicted while he was still alive. He had continued fighting under conditions almost impossible to imagine.
Yet his sacrifice nearly vanished from history. Recommended for the Medal of Honor, his case became tangled in military regulations about the combat role of medical personnel. The years passed. Then decades. For 58 years, the country had not formally recognized what he had done.
Finally, on May 1, 2002, President George W. Bush presented Captain Benjamin L. Salomon's posthumous Medal of Honor. The surgeon who had refused to leave his wounded behind was finally honored by his nation. He never came home from Saipan. But his name entered American military history as a testament to sacrifice without measure.