Capt. Ben. L. Salomon, a Milwaukee native, was a dentist in the Army Dental Corps. In June 1944, Ben went ashore on Saipan. With little dental work to do during active combat, Salomon volunteered to replace the 2nd Battalion's surgeon who had been wounded.
On July 7, 1944. The Japanese attacked and over ran the camp. In the first minutes of the attack, approximately 30 wounded soldiers walked, crawled, or were carried into Captain Salomon’s aid station, and the small tent soon filled with wounded men. He then saw a Japanese soldier bayoneting one of the wounded soldiers lying near the tent. Captain Salomon quickly killed the enemy soldier. Then, as he turned his attention back to the wounded, two more Japanese soldiers appeared in the front entrance of the tent. As these enemy soldiers were killed, four more crawled under the tent walls. Rushing them, Captain Salomon kicked the knife out of the hand of one, shot another, and bayoneted a third. Captain Salomon butted the fourth enemy soldier in the stomach and a wounded comrade then shot and killed the enemy soldier. Realizing the gravity of the situation, Captain Salomon ordered the wounded to make their way as best they could back to the regimental aid station, while he attempted to hold off the enemy until they were clear. Captain Salomon then grabbed a rifle from one of the wounded and rushed out of the tent. After four men were killed while manning a machine gun, Captain Salomon took control of it.
When an Army team returned to the site days later, Salomon's body was found slumped over a machine gun, with the bodies of 98 enemy troops piled up in front of his position. His body had 76 bullet and many bayonet wounds, up to 24 of which may have been received while he was still alive.
Only in 2002, President George W. Bush, finally awarded Ben with the Medal of Honor (posthumously) after a long battle of red tape and politics dating back to 1944. Apparently, the Army didn’t want to award him the Medal because he was a technically a "non combatant". #stayzero #zerofoxtrot #ww2 #hero #badass