Improbable heroes.
The handful of Utahns — soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines — who have received the nation's highest military award, the Medal of Honor, are ordinary men who performed with extraordinary braveness.
Here is a brief look at Utah's Medal of Honor recipients.
Photos of these Medal of Honor recipients from the Deseret News archives and other sources have been collected by photo researcher Ron Fox and can be viewed at deseretnews.com.
George Wahlen
Wahlen, 85, who lives in Roy, was a 20-year-old Pharmacist's Mate Second Class in the Navy when U.S. Marines launched an assault on the small island of Iwo Jima south of Japan. He went ashore as a medic.
"Well, I'm sure glad a pill pusher finally made it here," President Harry S. Truman said when he presented the Medal of Honor to Wahlen on Oct. 5, 1945.
During the 13 days he spent on Iwo Jima, Wahlen was wounded three times.
The first occurred when a grenade "exploded within a foot or so of my head when I was laying on my stomach trying to help a Marine," Wahlen said in a Nov. 11, 1976, Deseret News story by Joe Bauman.
Shell fragments damaged Wahlen's face, but it didn't stop him from using a grenade to knock out the Japanese emplacement so he could evacuate a wounded marine from the area.
Then he went ahead of the front lines and treated 14 wounded soldiers before returning to his own platoon.
Later, Wahlen was wounded as he dragged a wounded Marine off a hillside when a mortar shell landed behind him, striking him in the back and the right shoulder.
He remained on the island to treat the wounded. That's what he was doing when a shell went off near him, killing several Marines outright and breaking Wahlen's leg. He crawled 50 yards to administer first aid to still another fallen fighter.
Author Gary W. Toyn retells Wahlen's story in the 2006 book "The Quiet Hero: The Untold Medal of Honor Story of George E. Wahlen at the Battle for Iwo Jima."
William E. Hall
Hall, from Hiawatha, piloted a Douglas Dauntless scouting plane, armed only with two 50-caliber machine guns, during the Battle of the Coral Sea in 1942.
"In a resolute and determined attack on 7 May, Lt. Hall dived his plane at an enemy Japanese aircraft carrier, contributing materially to the destruction of that vessel," his citation reads.
The next day, he tangled with several Japanese fighter planes and destroyed two fighters and a torpedo plane. Hall was hit in the right foot. He tied a cord around the leg to stop the bleeding and then flew his damaged plane back to his aircraft carrier.
Hall went on to work with the Veterans Administration for 23 years. He died in 1996.
Mervyn S. Bennion
Bennion, from Vernon, was the captain of the USS West Virginia, which was stationed in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941.
In a story in the Oct. 14, 1947, Deseret News, Bennion was called "one of the first of Utah's war dead to be returned from overseas for burial." He had already been awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously.
"Although he had been mortally wounded by a splinter when a bomb exploded on the Tennessee, a ship moored alongside the West Virginia, Captain Bennion continued to direct operation on his ship," the story reads. "When he and several other officers were trapped by fire on the bridge, he told the men to leave him and save themselves.
"The other officers climbed 50 feet hand-over-hand across a rope thrown to them. Captain Bennion died sometime after they left."
Bennion was portrayed by actor Peter Firth in the 2006 movie "Pearl Harbor."
Jose F. Valdez
Valdez was born in Governador, N.M., but entered the Army at Pleasant Grove, where the National Guard building now bears his name.
Valdez was killed Jan. 25, 1945, near Rosenkrantz, France, during a counterattack by German forces. His citation credits him with forcing a German tank to withdraw his rifle. Then, with two companies of German infantry bearing down on the patrol's position, he volunteered to cover the withdrawal of the other soldiers.
The citation reads: "Three of his companions were wounded in their dash for safety, and he was struck by a bullet that entered his stomach and, passing through his body, emerged from his back."
Despite the wound, he covered the retreat of his unit, then called in artillery and mortar fire before dragging himself back to safety. He later died from his wounds.
Peter Tomich
Although Chief Water Tender Tomich probably never set foot in Utah, the Medal of Honor presented posthumously to this Austrian immigrant is on display by the Utah Historical Society "as evidence of deeds Utahns will never forget."
Utah adopted Tomich for his service and sacrifice aboard the Battleship Utah, which was serving as a target ship and was mistaken by Japanese pilots as being a battleship of the line during the attack on Pearl Harbor. It took two torpedo hits.
As his fellow crew members made their escape, the torpedo bombers returned to strafe them. Tomich remained at his post in the ship's engineering plant until all boilers were secured and all fire room personnel had left. By doing so, he lost his life.
Brian Miles Thacker
Thacker, who served in the Army during the Vietnam War, was born in Ohio but entered military service in Salt Lake City.
He was serving as a first lieutenant in the Kontum Province when his base was attacked by North Vietnamese Forces. Thacker helped defend the base and remained behind to cover retreating soldiers.
According to his Medal of Honor citation: "He occupied a dangerously exposed observation position for a period of four hours while directing friendly airstrikes and artillery fire against the assaulting enemy forces."
He spent the next eight days in the jungle, wounded and trapped behind enemy lines, until he was rescued.
Frederick Jarvis
Jarvis, Utah's earliest Medal of Honor recipient, was honored for "gallantry in action" during the Campaign of the Rocky Mesa as part of the Indian War Campaigns of 1868. He was a sergeant and one of 32 members of the 1st and 8th cavalries cited in the battle with Indian warriors led by Cochise. The battle took place between Red Rock and Turtle Mountain in the Chiricahua Mountains of Arizona.
E-mail: marchaddock@utwire.com