Sam K . Harrison Sam K . Harrison or Sam Kazar Harootenian ( December 12 , 1908 – January 1 , 1994 ) was a Corporal of the United States Army during World War II . He served nine months overseas and participated in the campaigns of Northern France , Ardennes , Rhineland and Central Europe . Sam Harrison is known as " the man who refused to die " due to the numerous injuries he sustained while in combat . During a battle , Harrison lost his left arm , kneecap , and three fingers on his right hand . Although he was pronounced dead , he managed to survive . Despite 27 months in hospitals and 33 surgical operations , he went on to found and head two successful corporations and attain high civic honors . Early life . Of Armenian descent , Harrison was born December 12 , 1908 in Chicago , Illinois , the second son of Kazar , who was a farmer near Fowler , California and Mariam ( Kazarian ) Harrison , a housewife , both from Kharpert , Ottoman Empire . His older brothers name was George and sisters were Agnes and Syble . Military service . Harrison decided to join the American military . He was assigned to the 280th Field Artillery Battalion which was activated at Camp Cooke ( today Vandenberg Air Force Base ) in California . The Battalion was then moved to Fort Sill in Oklahoma in February 1944 , for a three - month stay at Field Artillery School . He then trained for overseas duty at Camp Polk , Louisiana . World War II . Harrison was sent overseas to partake in the European theatre of World War II . He embarked from Boston on the USS West Point on September 7 , 1944 , and landed at Utah Beach , Normandy , on September 18 , 1944 . He soon engaged in the Battle of the Hurtgen Forest and by February 6 , 1945 , he was on the West Side of the Roer River . As part of the first Artillery Battalion of the 9th Army , he was given the task to cross the Roer River on February 24 . Harrison recalled his part in the push to the Rhine : " Our artillery scouts made their own reconnaissance and went into position as an isolated unit ; reached the Rhine on March 5 , 1945 ; crossed the Rhine on March 27 , 1945 . " He was then part of the drive to the Elbe and reached Hanover by April 2 , 1945 . In Hanover and just three weeks before the war ended , Harrison and other American combatants of the No . 1 gun of the 280th Field Artillery were hit by a German gun directed from an observation tower mounted on a steeple of a church . The German gun , which had a direct hit on their gunning position , caused three deaths , wounded five and stunned twenty - five American combatants . Of the living wounded , Harrison was nearest to death ; his left arm was torn off near the shoulder , lost three fingers on his right hand , his right knee had been crushed and his pelvic bones were shattered . When Harrison demanded a tourniquet , one of the combatants ripped off his web belt and tied it around the leg . A moment later a medic applied a real tourniquet . Then Harrison was transported to a field hospital where he underwent emergency surgeries . According the Harrison , the doctors stated that " we ' d better list him as killed in action " and another said " He ' ll die on the operating table . " Having survived the surgeries , Sam K . Harrison was then transferred to a hospital in Paris and was not expected to live . Even though Harrison showed signs of recovery , his recovery slowed down considerably when news of both his parents death reached him . Once Harrison reached stable condition , he was sent back to the United States and transferred to the Bushnell Hospital in Brigham City , Utah for more operations . Harrison was then transferred to the Letterman Army Hospital in San Francisco where he was given a wheelchair and intensive rehabilitation . After surgeons had grafted bones into his crushed knee , Harrison began to walk again with the help of a cane and leg brace . Later life . After being discharged on March 17 , 1947 , Harrison returned to the United States and lived in San Francisco on 4612 Nineteenth Street . He and Eugene Bonini , who was another veteran of the war , opened a hardware store in 1946 . The company grew by providing a surplus of military goods to major governmental institutions and private companies such as the U . S . Navy , local ship repair facilities and commercial businesses , Aerojet General , and Campbell Soup . In 1950 , Harrison started the On - Off Chemical Corporation , which manufactured and distributed On - Off , a waterless cleaner for hands . Sam K . Harrison died on January 1 , 1994 . He had no children . Military awards . Harrison ' s military awards include : Community service . Sam Harrison was appointed to the Board of Trustees as Vice - President of the War Memorial of San Francisco in 1949 by Mayor Elmer E . Robinson and elected President of the Board of Trustees in December 1954 . He was reappointed for five additional six - year terms . He was the past second Vice - Commander of the American Legion of Zan Irwin Post No . 93 ; a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars ; a life member of the Military Order of the Purple Heart ; Disabled American Veterans Organizer and First Commander of the William Randolph Hearst Chapter No . 144 and Past Commander of the San Francisco Chapter No . 3 . At the request of the Commanding General of Letterman Army Hospital , he engaged in extensive rehabilitation work with wounded Korean War veterans between 1950 and 1956 . Other organizations which Harrison was a member of includes the San Francisco Traffic Club ( honorary member ) , State of California Armenian - American Citizen ' s League ( honorary life - member ) , Commonwealth Club and the American National Committee to Aid Homeless Armenians ( ANCHA ) . Recognition and legacy . Harrison was nationally named " Hero of the Year " for rehabilitation work by the Disabled American Veterans in 1950 . He was the subject of the article entitled " The Man Who Refused to Die " by Vera Connolly , published in " Red Book Magazine " , October 1951 . The article was reprinted in Reader ' s Digest , March 1952 and also reprinted in book form by Twayne Publishers and released as an anthology in 1953 entitled " Courage is the Key . " He was deemed as a Knight of the Order of the Compassionate Heart on December 18 , 1975 . Harrison was the subject of a radio play entitled " The Empty Sleeve " by Irve Tunick which aired on an hour long nationwide broadcast in August 14 , 1951 on the CBS network . He was the subject of an article " A Universal Experience : My Favorite Story " by Vera Connolly published by the United States Department of Labor and printed by the President ' s Committee on Employment of the Physically Handicapped . Former San Francisco mayor Elmer E . Robinson said about Harrison :