On a spring morning in 1944, along the battered fields near Carano Creek in Italy, Technical Sergeant Van T. Barfoot rose from cover and moved alone toward the German defenses that had pinned down his platoon.

The ground ahead was mined and swept with machine gun fire, but Barfoot pressed forward. Grenade in hand, he silenced one enemy nest, then pushed into the trenches, capturing prisoners and cutting down positions that had stalled the advance. Before the day was done, he rescued wounded comrades under fire and stopped a German tank with a single bazooka shot.

His actions carried his unit through the stalemate and opened a path in one of the toughest fights of the Italian campaign.

Van T. Barfoot: A Farm Boy’s Journey Toward a Distant War

Van Thomas Barfoot was born on June 15, 19

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