Submarine Crisis Averted
26. During the Cuban Missile Crisis, Russian navy officer Vasili Arkhipov disagreed with his commanding officer’s choice to fire a nuclear torpedo in reply to US practice depth charges, thereby preventing nuclear war and saving the world.
27. In 2008, a dog called Sophie Tucker lived through 4 months lost at sea off Australia’s coast. She went overboard during bad weather while sailing with her owners. After that, she swam 5 nautical miles through stormy water full of sharks to an island, where she survived for 16 weeks by hunting wild goats.
28. During Scott’s failed Antarctic expedition, Lawrence Oates gave up his life when poor health started to reduce his companion’s chances of survival. As he walked into a blizzard, he said, “I am going outside and maybe some time.” Scot described it as the “act of a brave man and an English gentleman.”
29. In 2014, 8 year old Tyler Doohan rescued 6 family members from his burning home before he ultimately died in the fire while attempting to save the final victim, his disabled grandfather.
30. In 1975, decorated Marine Oliver Sipple saved President Gerald Ford from an assassination attempt after he saw, as a bystander, that a woman beside him had pulled out and aimed a pistol at Ford. His life was later destroyed when the media revealed that he was gay.
31. In 2006, Ross A. McGinnis was at the gunner’s hatch of his unit’s Humvee when an insurgent hurled a grenade inside. Rather than escape, McGinnis yelled a warning, climbed in, and covered the grenade with his body. He died at once, saving his team. He was 19.
32. Daniel “Chappie” James Jr., the first African American to attain the rank of four-star general, handled an Old West style standoff with Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who backed down after James ordered him to move his hand away from his gun.
33. Rags the Terrier became the U.S. 1st Infantry Division’s mascot dog in World War I. He learned to carry messages between headquarters and the front lines, even while being bombed and gassed, and even after he was blinded in one eye when he was hit by a car. He also gave early notice of incoming shells, saving many lives. Rags received several medals and awards.
34. RAF pilot Douglas Bader lost his legs after his aircraft crashed while he was performing a zero altitude barrel roll. He was given artificial legs, relearned how to walk, became a racecar driver, became an expert golfer, a competent tennis player, and eventually a fighter pilot again. During World War II, he soon discovered that he could endure greater G-forces than an average pilot because he had no legs. Before his crash and capture by the Germans, he destroyed 22 German aircraft, with six more probable victories.
35. Julie d’Aubigny was a 17th-century French noblewoman, opera singer, and highly skilled swordswoman who defeated men in duels. She was once challenged to duels by three different men for kissing a woman at a ball. She also once saved her lesbian lover from a convent by burning it down. The king pardoned her.
Bare-Knuckle King Triumph
36. John L. Sullivan, also called “Overly manly man,” was a champion bare-knuckle boxer and was famous for saying when he walked into a saloon, “I can lick (beat) any son-of-a-bitch in the house.” He always did, and he brought the house a round. He won the world Bareknuckle Championship title in 1889 even though he arrived at the fight after a long night of drinking, partying, and scoring with the chicks. Sullivan turned up looking like he had gone 36 hours without sleep, which he may have done, and drank whiskey and tea in the corner between rounds. He threw up over the side of the ring in the middle of the 44th round, but stayed in the fight, pushed it to the limit, and won in the 75th round when his opponent was too exhausted and pummeled to keep fighting.
37. Maximilian Kolbe, a priest in Auschwitz, volunteered to die instead of a stranger who shouted, “My wife! My children!” In the underground bunker, he kept everyone else calm who had been sentenced to starve to death. He was the last to die when he was executed by injection of carbolic acid.
38. In 2009, a skydiving instructor named Dave Hartsock took a 54-year-old woman on a tandem skydive. After the main parachute failed and the second became tangled, he told the woman to lift her feet. He then saved her life by turning their position and putting his body under hers to serve as a cushion on impact. Both survived the accident, but Hartsock is now paralyzed from the neck down.
39. Pier Donia was a Dutch farmer when civil war began in the Netherlands in 1515. His wife and children were killed by the king’s soldiers. He vowed revenge and, despite having no experience with a boat or a gun, formed a band of pirates. By the end of 1515, he had captured 28 Dutch navy boats and soon began burning villages of high-class citizens. When King Charles V sent his whole fleet to stop him, Pier captured them all. He carried a 7-foot-long sword that could cut off multiple heads with one swing. After he realized that he had become the very thing he had set out to destroy, he retired and died of natural causes a year later.
40. Casey Jones was an American railroader who worked for the Illinois Central Railroad. In 1895, he saved a young girl’s life by standing on the moving train’s cow-catcher and lifting the girl off the track. In 1900, he was killed when his passenger train, the Cannonball Express, collided with a stopped freight train. None of his passengers were injured. Jones shouted for his partner to jump off the train, while he stayed behind to slow it down.
41. In July 1996, British nursery teacher Lisa Potts saved a classroom full of children from a machete-wielding attacker. The next year, she was given the George Medal, the second-highest honor a civilian can receive.
42. In 2006, Wesley Autrey, while taking his two daughters home before work, rescued a man having a seizure on New York subway tracks. He leaped down onto the man and held him down by lying on him as five cars passed over them.
43. Sean Connery once fought off six gang members and won after they attempted to mug him. After being defeated, the gang held him in high regard, and Connery came to be known as a “hard man.”
44. Yitzhak Ganon survived Auschwitz because he was the 201st person in line for a gas chamber designed for 200 people, and Mengele had previously removed a kidney without anesthesia.
45. During WWII, Albert Battel, a German Wehrmacht officer, ordered his entire unit to protect Jews and warned the SS that he would kill them if they crossed a bridge into a Jewish ghetto to round people up.
Teen Pitcher Stuns Legends
46. Jackie Mitchell, a 17 year old female pitcher, struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig in one exhibition game, and her contract was later voided.
47. A stray dog rescued a Georgia woman after she crashed down an embankment and was thrown through the rear window of her car. The German Shepherd came out of the woods, dragged her by the collar off the trunk and 50 yards through the briars to the road where passing motorists could see her.
48. In 1651, a Dutchman named Jan de Doot took out his own bladder stone with a kitchen knife. He removed it through an incision he cut in his perineum. It was egg sized and weighed a quarter pound. He lived for years afterward and had the stone plated in gold.
49. An identity thief named Ferdinand Demara once stole the identity of a surgeon and, while on board a Navy destroyer, was assigned to carry out several life saving surgeries. He memorized a medical textbook just before that, and all of his patients survived.
50. In 2007, a dog named Toby saved his owner from choking. After an apple got stuck in the woman’s throat and a Heimlich maneuver she tried on herself did not work, the dog jumped up, pushed her to the floor, and repeatedly jumped on her chest until the apple came free.
Add Comment