List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II
W
Table:
Image
Name
Service
Rank
Place of action
Date of action
Notes

George E. Wahlen

Navy

Pharmacist's Mate Second class

Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands group

March 3, 1945

Francis B. Wai †

Army

Captain

Leyte, Philippines

October 20, 1944

Deliberately exposed himself to fire from Japanese pillboxes and led men on the beachhead; was killed in assault on last pillbox. One of 22 Asian American soldiers who received their medals in 2000, after a study revealed discrimination that caused them to be overlooked at the time.

Jonathan M. Wainwright, IV

Army

Lieutenant General

Philippines

March 12, 1942 – May 7, 1942

Wainwright commanded the doomed Allied garrison of Corregidor and ordered its surrender to Japanese forces in 1942. He was the highest ranking U.S. officer in captivity during his three years as a prisoner of war. The general would witness the surrender of the Japanese forces aboard the USS Missouri that brought about the end of the war. Wainwright was nominated for the Medal of Honor early in his captivity, but it was rejected due to the opposition of General Douglas MacArthur, who felt that Corregidor should not have been surrendered. MacArthur did not oppose the renewed proposal in 1945.

Kenneth N. Walker †

Air Forces

Brigadier General

Rabaul, New Britain

January 5, 1943

For Conspicuous Leadership above and beyond the call of Duty

—

Herman C. Wallace †

Army

Private First Class

near Prümzurlay, Germany

February 27, 1945

Kenneth A. Walsh

Marine Corps

First Lieutenant

Solomon Islands area

August 15, 1943 and August 30, 1943

William G. Walsh †

Marine Corps

Gunnery Sergeant

Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands

February 27, 1945

James R. Ward †

Navy

Seaman First Class

Pearl Harbor, Hawaii

December 7, 1941

Keith L. Ware

Army

Lieutenant Colonel

near Sigolsheim, France

December 26, 1944

—

Henry F. Warner †

Army

Corporal

near Dom Butgenbach, Belgium

December 20, 1944 – December 21, 1944

George Watson †

Army

Private

at sea near New Guinea

March 8, 1943

Watson was one of seven African American soldiers who received their medals in a belated 1997 ceremony, after a study revealed discrimination that caused them to be overlooked at the time.

Wilson D. Watson

Marine Corps

Private

Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands

February 26, 1945 – February 27, 1945

—

Robert T. Waugh †

Army

First Lieutenant

near Tremensucli, Italy

May 11, 1944 – May 14, 1944

David C. Waybur

Army

First Lieutenant

near Agrigento, Sicily

July 17, 1943

Led his patrol in holding off an Italian tank attack despite severe wounds.

—

Ellis R. Weicht †

Army

Sergeant

St. Hippolyte, France

December 3, 1944

—

Walter C. Wetzel †

Army

Private First Class

Birken, Germany

April 3, 1945

—

Eli L. Whiteley

Army

First Lieutenant

Sigolsheim, France

December 27, 1944

—

Hulon B. Whittington

Army

Sergeant

near Grimesnil, France

July 29, 1944

—

Paul J. Wiedorfer

Army

Private

near, Chaumont, Belgium

December 25, 1944

—

Thomas W. Wigle †

Army

Second Lieutenant

Monte Frassino, Italy

September 14, 1944

Consulting the provided table as well as the textual context provided at the end.

State the answer to the question: In what war was the man who served in the Navy in 1945 wounded ? Return your answer as JSON: {"answer": "YOUR ANSWER"}.

George E. Wahlen ( August 8 , 1924 - June 5 , 2009 ) was a United States Army major who served with the United States Navy as a hospital corpsman attached to a Marine Corps rifle company in World War II and was awarded the U.S. military 's highest decoration for valor , the Medal of Honor , for heroism above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Iwo Jima . He was an Army officer in the Korea War and was wounded in the Vietnam War .
The United States Navy ( USN ) is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States . It is the largest and most capable navy in the world and it has been estimated that in terms of tonnage of its active battle fleet alone , it is larger than the next 13 navies combined , which includes 11 U.S. allies or partner nations . It has the highest combined battle fleet tonnage and the world 's largest aircraft carrier fleet , with eleven in service , two new carriers under construction , and five other carriers planned . With 336,978 personnel on active duty and 101,583 in the Ready Reserve , the U.S. Navy is the third largest of the U.S. military service branches in terms of personnel . It has 290 deployable combat vessels and more than 3,700 operational aircraft as of June 2019 [ update ] , making it the third-largest air force in the world , after the United States Air Force and the United States Army . The U.S. Navy traces its origins to the Continental Navy , which was established during the American Revolutionary War and was effectively disbanded as a separate entity shortly thereafter . After suffering significant loss of goods and personnel at the hands of the Barbary pirates from Algiers , the U.S. Congress passed the Naval Act of 1794 for the construction of six heavy frigates , the first ships of the U.S. Navy . The U.S. Navy played a major role in the American Civil War by blockading the Confederacy and seizing control of its rivers . It played the central role in the World War II defeat of Imperial Japan . The U.S. Navy emerged from World War II as the most powerful navy in the world . The 21st century U.S. Navy maintains a sizable global presence , deploying in strength in such areas as the Western Pacific , the Mediterranean , and the Indian Ocean . It is a blue-water navy with the ability to project force onto the littoral regions of the world , engage in forward deployments during peacetime and rapidly respond to regional crises , making it a frequent actor in U.S. foreign and military policy .
A hospital corpsman ( HM /ˈkɔːrmən/ [ or corpsman ] ) is an enlisted medical specialist of the United States Navy , who may also serve in a U.S. Marine Corps unit . The corresponding rating within the United States Coast Guard is health services technician ( HS ) .
Petty officer second class is the fifth enlisted rank in the U.S. Navy , U.S. Coast Guard , and the United States Naval Sea Cadet Corps , just above petty officer third class and below petty officer first class , and is a non-commissioned officer . It is equivalent to the rank of sergeant in the Army and Marine Corps , and staff sergeant in the Air Force .
Francis Brown Wai ( April 14 , 1917 - October 20 , 1944 ) was a captain in the United States Army and received the Medal of Honor for actions during the recapture of the Philippines from Japan in 1944 . As a youngster , Wai liked to surf and he played several sports in high school and college . He graduated from college with a degree in finance . Although he initially planned to work with his father , he joined the Hawaii National Guard , commissioned a lieutenant . Wai was sent with his unit to fight in World War II and he was killed during the U.S. amphibious assault on Leyte , Philippines . He was initially awarded the Distinguished Service Cross , the United States ' second highest decoration for valor . After an extensive review of awards in 2000 , his medal was upgraded to the Medal of Honor . To date [ update ] , Wai is the only Chinese American and one of only two non-Japanese Asian American officers to receive the medal .
Killed in action ( KIA ) is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own combatants at the hands of hostile forces . The United States Department of Defense , for example , says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to hostile attack . KIAs include those killed by friendly fire in the midst of combat , but not from incidents such as accidental vehicle crashes , murder and other non-hostile events or terrorism . KIA can be applied both to front-line combat troops and to naval , air and support troops . Someone who is killed in action during a particular event is denoted with a † ( dagger ) beside their name to signify their death in that event or events . [ citation needed ] Further , KIA denotes a person to have been killed in action on the battlefield whereas died of wounds ( DOW ) relates to someone who survived to reach a medical treatment facility . The North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) also uses DWRIA , rather than DOW , for died of wounds received in action . However , historically , militaries and historians have used the former acronym . [ citation needed ] PKIA means presumed killed in action . This term is used when personnel are lost in battle , initially listed missing in action ( MIA ) , but after not being found , are later presumed to have not survived .
The United States Army ( USA ) is the land warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces . It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services , and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution . As the oldest and most senior branch of the U.S. military in order of precedence , the modern U.S. Army has its roots in the Continental Army , which was formed ( 14 June 1775 ) to fight the American Revolutionary War ( 1775-1783 ) - before the United States of America was established as a country . After the Revolutionary War , the Congress of the Confederation created the United States Army on 3 June 1784 to replace the disbanded Continental Army . The United States Army considers itself descended from the Continental Army , and considers its institutional inception to be the origin of that armed force in 1775 . As a uniformed military service , the U.S. Army is part of the Department of the Army , which is one of the three military departments of the Department of Defense . The U.S. Army is headed by a civilian senior appointed civil servant , the secretary of the Army ( SECARMY ) and by a chief military officer , the chief of staff of the Army ( CSA ) who is also a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . It is the largest military branch , and in the fiscal year 2017 , the projected end strength for the Regular Army ( USA ) was 476,000 soldiers ; the Army National Guard ( ARNG ) had 343,000 soldiers and the U.S. Army Reserve ( USAR ) had 199,000 soldiers ; the combined-component strength of the U.S. Army was 1,018,000 soldiers . As a branch of the armed forces , the mission of the U.S. Army is to fight and win our Nation 's wars , by providing prompt , sustained land dominance , across the full range of military operations and the spectrum of conflict , in support of combatant commanders . The branch participates in conflicts worldwide and is the major ground-based offensive and defensive force of the United States .
In the United States Army ( USA ) , U.S. Marine Corps ( USMC ) , and U.S. Air Force ( USAF ) , captain ( abbreviated CPT in the USA and Capt in the USMC and USAF ) is a company grade officer rank , with the pay grade of O-3 . It ranks above first lieutenant and below major . It is equivalent to the rank of lieutenant in the Navy/Coast Guard officer rank system . The insignia for the rank consists of two silver bars , with slight stylized differences between the Army/Air Force version and the Marine Corps version .
Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV ( August 23 , 1883 - September 2 , 1953 ) was a career American army officer and the Commander of Allied forces in the Philippines at the time of their surrender to the Empire of Japan during World War II . Wainwright was a recipient of the Medal of Honor for his courageous leadership during the fall of the Philippines .
In the United States Army , United States Marine Corps , and the United States Air Force , lieutenant general ( abbreviated LTG in the Army , Lt Gen in the Air Force , and LtGen in the Marine Corps ) is a three-star general officer rank , with the pay grade of O-9 . Lieutenant general ranks above major general and below general . Lieutenant general is equivalent to the rank of vice admiral in the other uniformed services .
Corregidor Island ( Tagalog : Pulo ng Corregidor [ kɔˈɾɛhidɔr ] ) is an island located at the entrance of Manila Bay in southwestern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines . Due to this location , Corregidor has historically been fortified with coastal artillery to defend the entrance of Manila Bay and Manila from attacks by enemy warships . Located 48 kilometres ( 30 mi ) inland , Manila has been the largest city and the most important seaport in the Philippines for centuries , from the colonial rule of Spain , Japan and the United States , to the establishment of the Philippines in 1946 . Corregidor ( Fort Mills ) is the largest of the islands that formed the harbor defenses of Manila Bay , together with El Fraile Island ( Fort Drum ) , Caballo Island ( Fort Hughes ) and Carabao Island ( Fort Frank ) , which were all fortified during the American colonial period . The island was also the site of a small military airfield , as part of the defense . During World War II , Corregidor played an important role during the invasion and liberation of the Philippines from Japanese forces . The island was heavily bombarded during the latter part of the war , and the ruins serve as a military memorial to American , Filipino and Japanese soldiers who served or lost their lives on the battlefield . Corregidor is one of the important historic and tourist sites in the country .
USS Missouri ( BB-63 ) ( Mighty Mo or Big Mo ) is an Iowa-class battleship and was the third ship of the United States Navy to be named after the U.S. state of Missouri . Missouri was the last battleship commissioned by the United States and is best remembered as the site of the surrender of the Empire of Japan , which ended World War II . Missouri was ordered in 1940 and commissioned in June 1944 . In the Pacific Theater of World War II she fought in the battles of Iwo Jima and Okinawa and shelled the Japanese home islands , and she fought in the Korean War from 1950 to 1953 . She was decommissioned in 1955 into the United States Navy reserve fleets ( the Mothball Fleet ) , but reactivated and modernized in 1984 as part of the 600-ship Navy plan , and provided fire support during Operation Desert Storm in January/February 1991 . Missouri received a total of 11 battle stars for service in World War II , Korea , and the Persian Gulf , and was finally decommissioned on 31 March 1992 after serving a total of 17 years of active service , but remained on the Naval Vessel Register until her name was struck in January 1995 . In 1998 , she was donated to the USS Missouri Memorial Association and became a museum ship at Pearl Harbor .
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur ( 26 January 1880 - 5 April 1964 ) was an American five-star general and Field Marshal of the Philippine Army . He was Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II . He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign , which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur Jr. the first father and son to be awarded the medal . He was one of only five to rise to the rank of General of the Army in the US Army , and the only one conferred the rank of field marshal in the Philippine Army . Raised in a military family in the American Old West , MacArthur was valedictorian at the West Texas Military Academy where he finished high school , and First Captain at the United States Military Academy at West Point , where he graduated top of the class of 1903 . During the 1914 United States occupation of Veracruz , he conducted a reconnaissance mission , for which he was nominated for the Medal of Honor . In 1917 , he was promoted from major to colonel and became chief of staff of the 42nd ( Rainbow ) Division . In the fighting on the Western Front during World War I , he rose to the rank of brigadier general , was again nominated for a Medal of Honor , and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross twice and the Silver Star seven times . From 1919 to 1922 , MacArthur served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point , where he attempted a series of reforms . His next assignment was in the Philippines , where in 1924 he was instrumental in quelling the Philippine Scout Mutiny . In 1925 , he became the Army 's youngest major general . He served on the court-martial of Brigadier General Billy Mitchell and was president of the American Olympic Committee during the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam .
Brigadier General Kenneth Newton Walker ( 17 July 1898 - 5 January 1943 ) was a United States Army aviator and a United States Army Air Forces general who exerted a significant influence on the development of airpower doctrine . He posthumously received the Medal of Honor in World War II . Walker joined the United States Army in 1917 , after the American entry into World War I . He trained as an aviator and became a flying instructor . In 1920 , after the end of the war , he received a commission in the Regular Army . After service in various capacities , Walker graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School in 1929 , and then served as an instructor there . He supported the creation of a separate air organization that is not subordinate to other military branches . He was a forceful advocate of the efficacy of strategic bombardment , publishing articles on the subject and becoming part of a clique known as the Bomber Mafia that argued for the primacy of bombardment over other forms of military aviation . He advanced the notion that fighters could not prevent a bombing attack . He participated in the Air Corps Tactical School 's development of the doctrine of industrial web theory , which called for precision attacks against carefully selected critical industrial targets . Shortly before the United States entered World War II , Walker became one of four officers assigned to the Air War Plans Division , which was tasked with developing a production requirements plan for the war in the air . Together , these officers devised the AWPD-1 plan , a blueprint for the imminent air war against Germany that called for the creation of an enormous air force to win the war through strategic bombardment .
The United States Army Air Forces ( USAAF or AAF ) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army , and de facto aerial warfare service branch of the United States , during and immediately after World War II ( 1939/41-1945 ) , successor to the previous United States Army Air Corps , and the direct predecessor of the United States Air Force of today , one of the five uniformed military services . The AAF was a component of the United States Army , which on 2 March 1942 was divided functionally by executive order into three autonomous forces : the Army Ground Forces , the Services of Supply ( which in 1943 became the Army Service Forces ) , and the Army Air Forces . Each of these forces had a commanding general who reported directly to the Army Chief of Staff . The AAF administered all parts of military aviation formerly distributed among the Air Corps , General Headquarters Air Force , and the ground forces ' corps area commanders , and thus became the first air organization of the U.S. Army to control its own installations and support personnel . The peak size of the AAF during the Second World War was over 2.4 million men and women in service and nearly 80,000 aircraft by 1944 , and 783 domestic bases in December 1943 . By V-E Day , the Army Air Forces had 1.25 million men stationed overseas and operated from more than 1,600 airfields worldwide . The Army Air Forces was created in June 1941 to provide the air arm a greater autonomy in which to expand more efficiently , to provide a structure for the additional command echelons required by a vastly increased force , and to end an increasingly divisive administrative battle within the Army over control of aviation doctrine and organization that had been ongoing since the creation of an aviation section within the U.S. Army Signal Corps in 1914 . The AAF succeeded both the Air Corps , which had been the statutory military aviation branch since 1926 , and the GHQ Air Force , which had been activated in 1935 to quiet the demands of airmen for an independent Air Force similar to the Royal Air Force which had already been established in the United Kingdom . Although other nations already had separate air forces independent of their army or navy ( such as the British Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe ) , the AAF remained a part of the Army until a defense reorganization in the post-war period resulted in the passage by the United States Congress of the National Security Act of 1947 with the creation of an independent United States Air Force in September 1947 . In its expansion and conduct of the war , the AAF became more than just an arm of the greater organization . By the end of World War II , the Army Air Forces had become virtually an independent service . By regulation and executive order , it was a subordinate agency of the United States Department of War ( as were the Army Ground Forces and the Army Service Forces ) tasked only with organizing , training , and equipping combat units , and limited in responsibility to the continental United States .
In the United States Armed Forces , brigadier general ( BG , BGen , or Brig Gen ) is a one-star general officer with the pay grade of O-7 in the U.S. Army , U.S. Marine Corps , and U.S. Air Force . Brigadier general ranks above a colonel and below major general . The rank of brigadier general is equivalent to the rank of rear admiral ( lower half ) in the other uniformed services ( the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard , as both Armed Forces and Uniformed Services ; and the Public Health Service and National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration , as Uniformed Services ) . The NATO equivalent is OF-6 .
Herman Claudious Wallace ( June 12 , 1924- February 27 , 1945 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II . Wallace joined the Army from Lubbock , Texas in June 1943 , and by February 27 , 1945 was serving as a private first class in Company B , 301st Engineer Combat Battalion , 76th Infantry Division . On that day , during demining operations near Prümzurlay in western Germany , Wallace stepped on an S-mine . Knowing that if he tried to run away the mine would pop up and explode a few feet off the ground , thus endangering the soldiers near him , he deliberately remained standing on the mine until it detonated . Wallace was killed in the explosion , but the blast was confined to the ground and no other soldiers were injured . He was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor eight months later , on October 25 , 1945 . Wallace , aged 20 at his death , was buried in the City of Lubbock Cemetery , Lubbock , Texas .
Private First Class ( PFC ) is a military rank held by junior enlisted personnel in some countries ' armed forces .
Kenneth Ambrose Walsh ( November 24 , 1916 - July 30 , 1998 ) was a United States Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and a Medal of Honor recipient who was the fourth ranking USMC fighter ace in World War II with a record of 21 enemy planes destroyed . He also served in Korea during the first year of the Korean War and retired from the Marine Corps in February 1962 .
The United States Marine Corps ( USMC ) , also referred to as the United States Marines , is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations with the United States Navy as well as the Army and Air Force . The U.S. Marine Corps is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States . The Marine Corps has been a component of the U.S. Department of the Navy since 30 June 1834 , working closely with naval forces . The USMC operates installations on land and aboard sea-going amphibious warfare ships around the world . Additionally , several of the Marines ' tactical aviation squadrons , primarily Marine Fighter Attack squadrons , are also embedded in Navy carrier air wings and operate from the aircraft carriers . The history of the Marine Corps began when two battalions of Continental Marines were formed on 10 November 1775 in Philadelphia as a service branch of infantry troops capable of fighting both at sea and on shore . In the Pacific theater of World War II the Corps took the lead in a massive campaign of amphibious warfare , advancing from island to island . As of 2017 , the USMC has around 186,000 active duty members and some 38,500 personnel in reserve .
First lieutenant is a commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces and , in some forces , an appointment . The rank of lieutenant has different meanings in different military formations ( see comparative military ranks ) , but the majority of cases it is common for it to be sub-divided into a senior ( first lieutenant ) and junior ( second lieutenant ) rank . The NATO equivalent rank for land force officers is OF-1 rank . In navies , while certain rank insignia may carry the name : lieutenant , the term may also be used to relate to a particular post or duty , rather than a rank .
Gunnery Sergeant William Gary Walsh ( April 7 , 1922 - February 27 , 1945 ) was a United States Marine who heroically sacrificed his life to save the lives of his fellow Marines during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II . For his actions on February 27 , 1945 , he posthumously received the Medal of Honor .
Gunnery sergeant ( GySgt ) is the seventh enlisted rank in the United States Marine Corps , just above staff sergeant and below master sergeant and first sergeant , and is a staff non-commissioned officer ( SNCO ) . It has a pay grade of E-7 . The gunnery sergeant insignia consists of two M1 Garands centered vertically between three chevrons and two rockers .
James Richard Ward ( September 10 , 1921 - December 7 , 1941 ) was a US Navy sailor who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the attack on Pearl Harbor .
Seaman is a military rank used in many navies around the world . It is considered a junior enlisted rank and , depending on the navy , it may be a single rank on its own or a name shared by several similarly-junior ranks . In the Commonwealth , it is the lowest rank in the navy , while in the United States , it refers to the three lowest ranks of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard . The equivalent of the seaman is the matelot in French-speaking countries , and Matrose in German-speaking countries .
USS Oklahoma ( BB-37 ) was a Nevada-class battleship built by the New York Shipbuilding Corporation for the United States Navy in 1910 , notable for being the first American class of oil-burning dreadnoughts . Commissioned in 1916 , Oklahoma served in World War I as a part of Battleship Division Six , protecting Allied convoys on their way across the Atlantic . After the war , she served in both the United States Battle Fleet and Scouting Fleet . Oklahoma was modernized between 1927 and 1929 . In 1936 , she rescued American citizens and refugees from the Spanish Civil War . On returning to the West Coast in August of the same year , Oklahoma spent the rest of her service in the Pacific . On 7 December 1941 , Oklahoma was sunk by several torpedoes during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor . Torpedoes from torpedo bomber airplanes hit the Oklahoma 's hull and the ship capsized . A total of 429 crew died ; survivors jumped off the ship 50 feet ( 15 m ) into burning hot water or crawled across mooring lines that connected Oklahoma and Maryland . Some sailors inside escaped when rescuers drilled holes and opened hatches to rescue them . In 1943 , Oklahoma was righted and salvaged . Unlike most of the other battleships that were recovered following Pearl Harbor , Oklahoma was too damaged to return to duty .
Keith Lincoln Ware ( 23 November 1915 - 13 September 1968 ) was a United States Army major general and a Medal of Honor recipient of World War II . General Ware was killed in action while commanding an infantry division in 1968 during the Vietnam War and was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross .
In the United States Army , U.S. Marine Corps , and U.S. Air Force , lieutenant colonel is a field-grade military officer rank , just above the rank of major and just below the rank of colonel . It is equivalent to the naval rank of commander in the other uniformed services . The pay grade for the rank of lieutenant colonel is O-5 . In the United States armed forces , the insignia for the rank are a silver oak leaf , with slight stylized differences between the version of the Army and the Air Force and that of the Navy and the Marine Corps . Promotion to lieutenant colonel is governed by Department of Defense policies derived from the Defense Officer Personnel Management Act ( DOPMA ) of 1980 , for officers in the Active Component , and its companion Reserve Officer Personnel Management Act ( ROPMA ) , for officers in the Reserve Component ( e.g. , Reserve and National Guard ) . DOPMA guidelines suggest that 70 percent of majors be promoted to lieutenant colonel after serving at least three years at their present rank and after 15-17 years of cumulative commissioned service .
France ( French : [ fʁɑ̃s ] ( listen ) ) , officially the French Republic ( French : République française , pronounced [ ʁepyblik fʁɑ̃sɛːz ] ( listen ) ) , is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories . [ XIII ] The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea , and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean . It is bordered by Belgium , Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast , Switzerland and Italy to the east , and Andorra and Spain to the south . The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic , Pacific and Indian oceans . The country 's 18 integral regions ( five of which are situated overseas ) span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres ( 248,573 sq mi ) and a total population of 67.02 million ( as of July 2019 [ update ] ) . France is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris , the country 's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre . Other major urban areas include Lyon , Marseille , Toulouse , Bordeaux , Lille and Nice . France , including its overseas territories , has the most number of time zones of any country , with a total of 12 . During the Iron Age , what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by the Gauls , a Celtic people . Rome annexed the area in 51 BC , holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476 , who formed the Kingdom of Francia . The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into East Francia , Middle Francia and West Francia . West Francia , which became the Kingdom of France in 987 , emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages , following its victory in the Hundred Years ' War ( 1337-1453 ) .
Henry F. Warner ( August 23 , 1923 - December 21 , 1944 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II .
Corporal is a military rank in use in some form by many militaries and by some police forces or other uniformed organizations . Within NATO , each member nation 's corresponding military rank of corporal is combined under the NATO-standard rank scale code OR-3 or OR-4 . However , there are often differences in how each nation ( or service in each nation ) employs corporals . Some militaries do n't have corporals , but may instead have a Junior Sergeant . In some militaries , the rank of corporal nominally corresponds to commanding a section or squad of soldiers . However , in the United States Army , the rank of corporal is considered a lateral promotion from E-4 Specialist and usually only occurs when the soldier has been selected by a promotion board to become an E-5 Sergeant and is serving in an E-5 billet such as a fireteam leader in a rifle squad . The lateral promotion is used to make the soldier a non-commissioned officer without changing the soldier 's pay . As the Table of Organization & Equipment ( TO & E ) rank of a fire team leader is sergeant and that of squad leader is staff sergeant . In the United States Marine Corps , corporal is the Table of Organization ( TO ) rank for a rifle fire team leader , machine gun team leader , light mortar squad leader , and assault weapon squad leader , as well as gunner on most larger crew served weapons ( i.e . medium mortars , heavy machine guns , and anti-tank missiles ) , armored vehicles ( e.g . tanks , light armored vehicles , and armored assault vehicles ) , and the two assistant gunners on a howitzer ( the gunner is a sergeant ) . In most countries that derive their military structure from the British military system , corporal is a more senior rank than that of private .
George Watson ( 1915 - March 8 , 1943 ) was a United States Army private who gave his life rescuing several soldiers from drowning at sea during World War II . In 1997 , he was awarded the Medal of Honor , the nation 's highest military decoration for valor , for his actions on March 8 , 1943 , near Porlock Harbor , New Guinea . Watson and six other Black Americans who served in World War II , were awarded the Medal of Honor on January 12 , 1997 . The Medal of Honor was posthumously presented to Watson by President Bill Clinton on January 13 , 1997 during a Medals of Honor ceremony for the seven recipients at the White House in Washington , D.C . The seven recipients are the first and only Black Americans to be awarded the Medal of Honor for World War II .
A private is a soldier of the lowest military rank ( equivalent to NATO Rank Grades OR-1 to OR-3 depending on the force served in ) . In modern military writing , private is abridged to Pte in the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth of Nations countries and to Pvt in the United States .
Wilson Douglas Watson ( February 16 , 1922 - December 19 , 1994 ) was a United States Marine Corps private who received the Medal of Honor for his actions on Iwo Jima during World War II . He single-handedly killed 90 enemy soldiers , thus enabling his platoon to advance , earning him the name One-Man Regiment of Iwo Jima . After World War II , Watson continued his military service in the United States Army . At the time he retired , he held the rank of Staff Sergeant .
Robert T. Waugh ( January 16 , 1919-May 19 , 1944 ) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions during the Battle of Monte Cassino in World War II .
Italy ( Italian : Italia [ iˈtaːlja ] ( listen ) ) , officially the Italian Republic ( Italian : Repubblica Italiana [ reˈpubblika itaˈljaːna ] ) , is a European country consisting of a peninsula delimited by the Alps and surrounded by several islands . Italy is located in south-central Europe , and it is also considered a part of Western Europe . The country covers a total area of 301,340 km2 ( 116,350 sq mi ) and shares land borders with France , Switzerland , Austria , Slovenia , and the enclaved microstates of Vatican City and San Marino . Italy has a territorial exclave in Switzerland ( Campione ) and a maritime exclave in the Tunisian Sea ( Lampedusa ) . With around 60 million inhabitants , Italy is the third-most populous member state of the European Union . The capital and largest city is Rome ; other major cities are Milan , Naples , Turin , Palermo , Genoa , Bologna , Florence and Venice . Due to its central geographic location in Southern Europe and the Mediterranean , Italy has historically been home to myriad peoples and cultures . In addition to the various ancient peoples dispersed throughout what is now modern-day Italy , the most predominant being the Indo-European Italic peoples who gave the peninsula its name , beginning from the classical era , Phoenicians and Carthaginians founded colonies mostly in insular Italy , Greeks established settlements in the so-called Magna Graecia of Southern Italy , while Etruscans and Celts inhabited central and northern Italy respectively . An Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom in the 8th century BC , which eventually became a republic with a government of the Senate and the People . The Roman Republic initially conquered and assimilated its neighbours on the Italian peninsula , eventually expanding and conquering parts of Europe , North Africa and Asia . By the first century BC , the Roman Empire emerged as the dominant power in the Mediterranean Basin and became a leading cultural , political and religious centre , inaugurating the Pax Romana , a period of more than 200 years during which Italy 's law , technology , economy , art , and literature developed . Italy remained the homeland of the Romans and the metropole of the empire , whose legacy can also be observed in the global distribution of culture , governments , Christianity and the Latin script .
David Crowder Waybur ( September 29 , 1919 - March 28 , 1945 ) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II . During the Allied invasion of Sicily , he led his small patrol in its defense against an attack by four Italian tanks . Despite being seriously wounded , he continued to lead and personally disabled one tank with only a Tommy gun . After receiving the Medal of Honor for these actions , he returned to combat and was killed in action in Germany .
Sicily ( Italian : Sicilia [ siˈtʃiːlja ] ; Sicilian : Sicilia [ sɪˈʃiːlja ] ) is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and one of the 20 regions of Italy . It is one of the five Italian autonomous regions and is officially referred to as Regione Siciliana . Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea , south of the Italian Peninsula , from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina . Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna , the tallest active volcano in Europe , and one of the most active in the world , currently 3,329 m ( 10,922 ft ) high . The island has a typical Mediterranean climate . The earliest archaeological evidence of human activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC . By around 750 BC , Sicily had three Phoenician and a dozen Greek colonies and it was later the site of the Sicilian Wars and the Punic Wars . After the fall of the Roman Empire in the 5th century AD , Sicily was ruled during the Early Middle Ages by the Vandals , the Ostrogoths , the Byzantine Empire , and the Emirate of Sicily . The Norman conquest of southern Italy led to the creation of the Kingdom of Sicily , which was subsequently ruled by the Hohenstaufen , the Capetian House of Anjou , Spain , and the House of Habsburg . It was unified under the House of Bourbon with the Kingdom of Naples as the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies . It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand , a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification , and a plebiscite . Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region on 15 May 1946 , 18 days before the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946 .
Ellis R. Weicht ( April 17 , 1916 - December 3 , 1944 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II .
Sergeant ( /ˈsɑː ( r ) dʒənt/ SARJ-ənt ; abbreviated to Sgt . and capitalized when used as a named person 's title ) is a rank in many uniformed organizations , principally military and policing forces . The alternative spelling , serjeant , is used in The Rifles and other units that draw their heritage from the British Light Infantry . Its origin is the Latin serviens , 'one who serves ' , through the French term sergent . The term sergeant refers to a non-commissioned officer placed above the rank of a corporal and a police officer immediately below a lieutenant or , in the UK Police forces , below an inspector . In most armies the rank of sergeant corresponds to command of a squad ( or section ) . In Commonwealth armies , it is a more senior rank , corresponding roughly to a platoon second-in-command . In the United States Army , sergeant is a more junior rank corresponding to a four-soldier fireteam leader . More senior non-commissioned ranks are often variations on sergeant , for example staff sergeant , first sergeant , and sergeant major . Many countries use sergeant rank , whether in English or using a cognate with the same origin in another language . The equivalent rank in Arab armies is raqīb ( رقيب ) , meaning 'overseer ' or 'watcher ' .
Walter C. Wetzel ( June 7 , 1919 - April 3 , 1945 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II .
Eli Lamar Whiteley ( December 10 , 1913 - December 2 , 1986 ) was a former infantry captain in the United States Army who received the Medal of Honor for valor in World War II , for his actions in Sigolsheim , France in 1944 . He was drafted into the US Army in April 1942 .
Hulon Brocke Whittington ( July 9 , 1921 - January 17 , 1969 ) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II .
Paul Joseph Wiedorfer ( January 17 , 1921 - May 25 , 2011 ) was a United States Army soldier and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration , the Medal of Honor , for his actions in World War II .
Thomas W. Wigle ( May 18 , 1909 - September 16 , 1944 ) was a United States Army officer and a recipient of the United States military 's highest decoration - the Medal of Honor - for his actions in World War II . Prior to enlisting , Thomas Wigle was a Concert Violinist , Kansas City Philharmonic
Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces , comparable to NATO OF-1a rank .