Medal of Honor recipient, Sergeant Grant Timmerman, was an Old Breed Marine who served in China in 1938, where he received a Letter of Commendation for saving the wife of a Navy commander from a mob. By 1943, he was in the Pacific commanding tanks in action against the Japanese.

Timmerman, a native of the amazingly named Americus, Kansas, landed at Tarawa two days after the initial amphibious assault. In June 1944, he, his Marines and their tanks, landed on Saipan, where he was lightly wounded three weeks later. 

On July 7, Timmerman was standing in the hatch of his tank to direct fire on Japanese positions when an enemy grenade hurled in his direction. Unhesitatingly, Timmerman covered the turret opening with his body to save the Marines inside. He absorbed the grenade’s full blast and died instantly.

Timmerman received the Medal of Honor as well as the Bronze Star for his leadership earlier in the battle, and he is buried at the National Cemetery of the Pacific in the Honolulu, Hawaii. Honor and remember him!