PFC Andrew J. Jackson receives Medal of Honor, October 5, 1945
On the third day of the Battle of Peleliu, Jackson single-handedly attacked a cement pillbox containing thirty-five Japanese soldiers. Even as he took heavy fire, he killed every enemy inside. Spotting two other pillboxes, Jackson stormed them alone, with the same unlikely result. But Jackson was not finished. Identifying twelve hidden Japanese machine-gun nests, the nineteen-year-old soldier dashed from emplacement to emplacement, killing fifty soldiers who were shooting at him. “I felt like I was a ballplayer who had just made the winning touchdown,” Jackson will recall. He receives the Medal of Honor at a White House ceremony.