Marines and fellow Americans, here is an incredible leadership story. James Dyess earned the Medal of Honor posthumously at Kwajalein in World War II, when he saved five Marines who had been pinned down on three sides by Japanese troops. Honor and remember him.

Dyess grew up in Georgia, an Eagle Scout who graduated from Clemson University. He joined the Marine Corps Reserve in 1936, transferring from the Army Reserve. He earned the Bronze Star twice, in 1937 and 1938, as part of the Marine Corps Rifle Team, which won the national matches each year.

Dyess earned the Carnegie Medal in 1928, when he was nineteen years old, for saving the lives of two swimmers off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. H Eis the only American to have received the Carnegie Medal and the Medal of Honor.

By 1944, Dyess was a lieutenant-colonel, commanding 1st Battalion, 24th Marines when he saved the lives of the pinned down Marine snipers. Corporal Frank Pokrop recalled, “with no protection and heavy fire coming at us from a few feet away and dusk approaching, we were certain to be killed. All of a sudden Col. Dyess broke through on the right, braving the very heavy fire, and got all of us out of there.”

Dyess was killed the following day, leading Marines at the tip of the spear, exposing himself to Japanese machine gun fire to direct a flanking attack. He was buried in Augusta, Georgia. Honor and remember him!