Stories of America's Greatest Heroes
Ken Harbaugh tells the stories of service members who have distinguished themselves through an act of valor. These stories feature recipients from the Civil War to present day, including a few who were originally overlooked for the medal.
The Ultimate Sacrifice: Pvt. Christian and Pvt. Johnson
On June 3rd, 1944, Private Herbert Christian and Private Elden Johnson were on a patrol looking for enemy Germans. At 1am, they were ambushed, and came under suffocating fire from nearly all sides. Seeing no other options, Christian and Johnson stood up amidst the fire and advanced, drawing the enemy’s attention away from their allies and towards themselves. Despite the odds, and Christian even having his leg shot off, they were both able to travel 20 yards and kill multiple enemies before finally being gunned down. In the end, their diversion worked, and 12 of their allies were able to escape to safety. Both Private Herbert Christian and Private Elden Johnson were later awarded the Medal of Honor for the courageous sacrifice.
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Welcome to the Medal of Honor podcast, brought to you in partnership with the National Medal of Honor Museum. I’m Ken Harbaugh. In each episode, we’ll learn about a different service member who has distinguished him or herself through an act of valor.
Herbert Christian was born on June 18th, 1912 in Byesville, Ohio. During his childhood, he spent time as an inmate of a reform school, but it’s unknown what crime he was convicted of. He ended up becoming a truck driver before marrying his wife Katherine, and having one child. He later became an insurance salesman.
In November 1942, at 30 years old, Christian was drafted into the Army. He was assigned to the 15th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, and deployed to the European Theater. Also in his unit was Elden Johnson, a 23 year old soldier from New Jersey who had enlisted in the Army a year prior.
In early 1944, following the Invasion of Italy that prior fall, allied forces had their eyes set on Rome. They fought up the western Italian coast, winning notable battles at Monte Cassino & Anzio on their approach. By June, the allies were on the doorstep of the Italian capital.
On June 2nd 1944, Christian & Johnson’s unit was near Valmontone, Italy, a municipality just south of Rome. Both Christian and Johnson were assigned to a patrol that was ordered to probe 1500 yards North in search of the enemy. They left at 23:00, and by 01:00, they had covered most of the lightly wooded area without seeing any Germans. Then, after entering a large clearing, the patrol took fire from seemingly every angle. The patrol leader was killed almost immediately, and the rest of the patrol dropped to the ground in response, trying to avoid being hit. Bright enemy flares illuminated the area. The Americans quickly realized that they had walked into a trap, and were now surrounded on nearly all sides by 3 tanks, three machine guns, and around 60 entrenched riflemen. Both Christian and Johnson understood that this was a nightmare scenario. Outnumbered, outgunned, and pinned down, their unit had almost no chance of a successful retreat. Seeing no other option, Christian and Johnson took matters into their own hands. They signaled to their commander, indicating that he should retreat with the rest of the patrol, and then they did the unthinkable: Together they stood up amidst the fire, and advanced towards the enemy. They knew there would be no way out, but with the right amount of luck, they hoped to distract and delay the enemy long enough for their allies to escape.
As soon as they began their advance, Christian’s right leg was hit by an enemy 20mm round. It ripped off his leg, severing it right above the knee, and knocked him to the ground. Despite unimaginable pain, he continued on. He hobbled forward on one knee and what remained of his other leg, leaving a trail of blood behind him as he fired his tommy gun at the enemy, killing or wounding at least three Germans. The enemy was perplexed by Christian and Johnson’s outrageously reckless assault- so much so that they completely diverted their attention towards those two men and away from the rest of the patrol.
Private Johnson, in a slow, deliberate walk, moved through this suffocating fire for 20 yards until he was within 25 feet of the enemy. With one burst of his browning automatic rifle, he killed the entire machine gun crew that had shot the patrol leader. After reloading, Johnson turned to his left and fired again, killing or wounding four more enemies, but his luck had run out. He was hit by a burst of machine gun fire, causing him to slump forward onto his knees. Johnson caught himself before he could fall to the ground, and mustered his last bit of strength to shoot and kill one last German before succumbing to his injury.
Meanwhile, Christian had shuffled 20 yards through intense fire, refusing to take cover before coming within 10 yards of the enemy. There, he emptied the rest of his clip into a Nazi soldier and hastily reloaded before spraying directly into the enemy ranks. Now seemingly fully recovered from their initial shock, the enraged enemy focused their machine gun, machine pistol, and rifle fire on Private Christian, successfully shooting him down.
Without the courageous self-sacrifice of Private Herbert Christian and Private Elden Johnson, twelve of their comrades would not have been able to escape the clearing and reach safety. Both men were awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroism that day.
The Medal of Honor podcast is a production of Evergreen Podcasts.
Nathan Corson is our executive producer and mixing engineer, Declan Rohrs is our associate producer, scriptwriter, and recording engineer, and I’m Ken Harbaugh.
We are proud to support the National Medal of Honor Museum. To learn more, and to support their mission, go to mohmuseum.org. Thanks for listening.
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