On September 16, 1951, twenty two year old Cpl. Joseph Vittori and the men of F Co., 2nd BN, 1st Marines were tasked with defending Hill 749 near the Songnea-dong, Korea.
On that night, enemy forces launched a vicious attack on the entrenched Marines. Corporal Vittori, with two other volunteers, plunged directly into the midst of the enemy onslaught. Overwhelming them in a fierce hand-to-hand struggle, he enabled his company to consolidate its positions to meet further imminent attacks. Quick to respond to an urgent call for a rifleman to defend a heavy machine gun positioned on the extreme point of the northern flank and virtually isolated from the remainder of the unit, he ran towards that position and began fighting a singlehanded battle. Leaping from one flank to the other, from foxhole to foxhole, Cpl. Vittori manned his machinegun and held off the enemy for 3 hours; making repeated trips under heavy fire to replenish his ammunition.
With the situation becoming extremely critical, reinforcing units to the rear pinned down under the blistering attack and foxholes left practically void by dead and wounded for a distance of 100 yards, Corporal Vittori continued his valiant stand, refusing to give ground as the enemy penetrated to within feet of his position.
The next morning, his body was found alongside 200 enemy dead.
Corporal Vittori was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor. #zerofucks #nofucks #stayzero #america #marines #hero