This would provide the troops with enough time to retreat. Hiding in his lookout position on the second floor of a house, he used the radio to contact his unit to request that artillery fire be directed at the village. As Fox was an artillery spotter, his role required him to radio coordinates to inform the units where to deliver their payloads.Īs the Germans’ attack was severe, the US unit was forced to retreat. The next day, the German counterattack began in the early hours of the morning, as expected. On Christmas Day, the US forces had gained control of the picturesque town, with members of Fox’s unit kindly handing out cheese and chocolates to villagers. The 29-year-old GI served in Sommocolonia, a mountain village in Italy which was subject to brutal fighting between US and German forces. While we might sadly never hear of their acts of bravery, we do know the story of Lieutenant John Robert Fox.
World War II was undoubtedly filled with many brave soldiers who put their lives on the line to save their comrades. Unfortunately, Boris Baranov passed away of a heart attack in 2005. Two of them are still alive to this day and continue to work in the nuclear industry. Thankfully, the three men survived the mission. Senior engineer Valeri Bespalov, mechanical engineer Alexei Ananenko, and shift supervisor Boris Baranov volunteered to undertake the mission that many deemed to be suicide, although it would improve the fate of millions of people.Īs some of the water was drained prior to their mission, the three men entered in wet suits with radioactive water reaching their knees and successfully shut down the valves. To prevent the nuclear fallout, the 20 million liters (5 mil gal) of water needed to be drained, which required the correct valves to be manually turned down. It would cause irreparable damage to the world. This would cause a radiation-contaminated steam explosion that would destroy the nuclear plant as well as the additional three reactors. Consequently, it would seep into the pools of water below. However, the damage from the disaster would have been considerably worse if not for the heroism of three brave volunteers.Ī few days after the disaster, scientists discovered that the molten nuclear material produced would melt through the concrete reactor flooring. On April 26, 1986, one of four nuclear reactors at the Chernobyl nuclear power station exploded, which led to 400 times more radiation than the Hiroshima atomic bomb in 1945.
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