Going fast is clearly a passion for NASCAR driver Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. But 500 mph in a fighter jet? That’s a little faster than what he’s used to. “We’ve got to find some speed in our car to match this speed,” Wallace said after visiting Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina to test out the adrenaline rush from an ...

Selfless sacrifice is a common theme among Medal of Honor recipients, as many of them give their own lives to save their fellow comrades during war. Army Pfc. Leslie Bellrichard was no exception. Bellrichard was born in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Dec. 4, 1941 — three days before America was thrust into World War II — and his life was a ...

Master divers have one of the most coveted titles in the U.S. Navy. They’re technical experts who can journey to dark depths of the world’s oceans to accomplish things few others can with little to no margin for error. Navy Chief Petty Officer William Badders, a machinist’s mate, had that coveted role in the 1930’s. He and three of his ...

Many of our nation’s fallen heroes have yet to make it home from war. One of those men is Air Force Capt. John S. Walmsley Jr., whose dedication to completing his mission during the Korean War cost him his life, but it earned him the Medal of Honor. Walmsley was born and raised in Baltimore and attended the University of ...

Heroes are often people who volunteer for missions they know might be their last. During the Vietnam War, despite having reached retirement age while managing to survive two wars, Army Capt. Ed Freeman volunteered for just such a mission. Freeman was born on Nov. 20, 1927, into a big family who lived on a farm in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. He never finished ...

U.S. service members with the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa have spent the past few weeks helping victims of Cyclone Idai, a devastating storm that slammed into Mozambique and Zimbabwe in March. Most Americans don’t know a whole lot about the Combined Joint Task Force Horn of Africa — CJTF HOA, for short — or our relationship with ...

Actors do some crazy things for their jobs, but it’s not every day they choose to put on a padded dog bite sleeve and get attacked by a military working dog with 300 pounds of pressure behind its bite. A few actors recently watched some drug-sniffing dogs in action at the 2nd Military Working Dog Detachment at Fort Meade, Maryland. They ...

Artillery battalions were rarely on the front lines of the battle during World War II, but cannon units often found themselves in line with the infantrymen directly facing the enemy. Marine Corps Pfc. Harold Gonsalves lost his life on the front line of the Battle of Okinawa in the Pacific, but in doing so, he earned the Medal of Honor. ...

The American Civil War accounts for 1,522 Medal of Honor recipients — nearly half of the total who have earned the award since its creation in 1861. One of those recipients was Union Army Pvt. George Maynard, who refused to leave a man behind during a lopsided fight. Maynard was born in a suburb of Boston in 1836 and attended ...

Chaplains aren’t just religious advocates for service members. They’re also relied upon for moral and spiritual well-being, with an ability to be calm in the most harrowing of circumstances. Only a handful of chaplains have earned the Medal of Honor. Navy Lt. Vincent Capodanno, whose bravery and selflessness were exemplified during the Vietnam War, is one of them. Capodanno was ...

The Defense Department is huge and has numerous moving parts, so we’re sure you have lots of questions that might bring you to Defense.gov. Civilians always have questions about military procedures, and service members and their families have an entirely different subset of queries about what’s available to them. Luckily, we have a whole Question & Answer section on Defense.gov ...

For some people, the military is a calling. That was the case for Army Staff Sgt. Travis Atkins, who reenlisted during the height of the Iraq War after a break in service. It was a decision that led to his death, but his dedication to the cause saved the lives of three of his fellow soldiers, and those actions are ...

By spring of 1945, the end of World War II was imminent. The Allies had pushed into Germany, and that momentum may be what pushed Army 1st Lt. Jack Treadwell to single-handedly clear out six enemy bunkers and take 18 prisoners as his battalion hammered the Siegfried Line, Germany’s last major defensive fortification. His actions inspired his men and earned ...

A lot of Defense Department decisions tie in with State Department foreign policy. But while military advisors and diplomats share the same mission, they have very different perspectives and skill sets. So it would make sense to have a link between the two, right? That’s where the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs’ Office of State-Defense Integration comes in. It creates a link ...

Medics on the battlefield have a crucial job: to care for the wounded despite the chaos around them. Army Pfc. Bryant Womack understood that job so well that he refused to quit helping others in Korea, even after he’d lost a limb. That selflessness led to his death, but it also earned him the Medal of Honor and a place ...