WATCH: 5 little-known stories from U.S. military history

The United States wouldn’t be celebrating its 250th birthday this week if not for the fledgling country’s unlikely military victory over Great Britain. Monumental figures throughout history have helped shape the nation by leading or serving in its armed forces. But what about lesser-known warriors who left their mark?

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Here are five historical figures or stories you might not know.

A Marine trailblazer who was a vision in red

Lt. Col. Ruth Cheney Streeter was appointed the first director of the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve during World War II.

Back then, keeping up physical appearances was seen as a patriotic act for women, especially in the armed services. Streeter, the first woman in the Marine Corps to achieve the rank of major, wanted her Marines to look the part of an elite force, and red lipstick was key.

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While the Nazi regime outwardly disdained makeup, going so far as to ban “painted women” from public functions, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill took the opposite stance. In 1941, the United Kingdom rolled out a “beauty is your duty” campaign, a sentiment that spread to the states once the U.S. joined the war efforts.

Streeter approached Elizabeth Arden, the pioneering cosmetics entrepreneur, in 1942 to create a standard makeup kit for every woman Marine. Part of this kit was an iconic red lipstick shade called “Montezuma red,” formulated to match the red piping and chevrons on women Marines’ uniforms. The kit also included a blush and nail polish to match.

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Every female recruit was issued a makeup kit at boot camp with instructions on how it should be applied. Failure to apply your cosmetics would result in disciplinary action.

To this day, the Marine Corps is the only service branch that explicitly states women can wear red lipstick with all uniforms.

The most decorated military unit in U.S. history

In the months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, life changed quickly for Japanese Americans, including Japanese American soldiers. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order that forced all people of Japanese descent, many of whom were American citizens, into what the government called “relocation centers.”

In January 1942, the U.S. Army discharged all Japanese American soldiers, including those born in the U.S. to Japanese immigrants, from ROTC programs and many from active duty. The government also changed their draft status to 4-C, an enemy alien classification, making them draft-ineligible.

That did not stop a group of second-generation Japanese Americans, called Nisei, with the Hawaiian Territorial Guard from answering the call of duty. They petitioned Hawaii’s military governor successfully to create a volunteer labor battalion called the Varsity Victory Volunteers. The group built roads, fences and military barracks.

The work of the Varsity Victory Volunteers demonstrated their loyalty to the United States and garnered the trust of the military on the islands.

In February 1943, with pressure mounting from protests and lawsuits, the ban on Japanese Americans in the armed services was lifted, allowing those who passed a so-called loyalty test to enlist. The Varsity Victory Volunteers dissolved, and its members joined the segregated U.S. Army 442nd Regimental Combat Team.

The 442nd was composed of two-thirds Hawaiian-born Nisei, while the other third consisted of Nisei soldiers from the mainland, some of whom had been incarcerated in relocation centers, where their families remained while they fought for the U.S. in Europe.

The motto of the 442nd was “Go for Broke,” a gambling phrase meaning to put everything on the line for a big win, and is said to have come from one of the Nisei soldiers from the Hawaiian Islands.

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In May 1944, the 442nd joined the front line in Italy and served in Europe until the end of the war, compiling a remarkable fighting record. About 14,000 men served in the 442nd, and the unit earned 9,486 Purple Hearts, 21 Medals of Honor, 29 Distinguished Service Crosses, 588 Silver Stars, 4,000 Bronze Stars, and an unprecedented eight Presidential Unit Citations, making it the most decorated unit for its size and length of service in all of U.S. military history.

President Harry Truman presented a citation to the 442nd on July 15, 1946, and paid tribute to its members’ resilience, saying, “You fought not only the enemy, but you fought prejudice—and you have won.”

In 2019, the Pentagon and the Army recognized April 5 as “Go for Broke” Day, honoring the 442nd for its sacrifice and service.

The only woman to earn a Medal of Honor

The Medal of Honor is the highest military honor for valor that U.S. service members can receive, and it is awarded only to those who distinguish themselves “through conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of life above and beyond the call of duty.”

Of the more than 3,500 Medals of Honor recipients, only one has been a woman: Dr. Mary Edwards Walker.

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Walker was born in New York state in 1832 to progressive parents who encouraged education. She earned a medical degree from Syracuse Medical College in 1855, becoming the second woman to graduate from the institution.

At the onset of the Civil War in 1861, Walker went to Washington, D.C., to join the Union Army as a surgeon but was denied a commission as a medical officer because she was a woman. She decided to volunteer as an unpaid surgeon instead. She worked in field hospitals on the front line in Washington, Fredericksburg, Virginia, and Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Dr. Walker’s medical credentials were finally accepted in 1863, and she became the U.S. Army’s first female surgeon.

During her time as a surgeon, Walker routinely crossed enemy lines to treat civilians and soldiers. She was arrested by Confederate troops in 1864 on suspicion of spying, although she never admitted to it. She was released four months later in a prisoner exchange.

She developed muscular atrophy during her time in the notorious Castle Thunder prison, for which she received a disability pension after the war.

President Andrew Johnson wanted to recognize Walker’s unique contribution and decided to award her the Medal of Honor in 1865 based on recommendations from Maj. Gens. William T. Sherman and George H. Thomas.

The requirements to qualify for the Medal of Honor were broader at the time, but the criteria were later revised in 1916 and 1917. As a result, 911 medals were rescinded, including Walker’s. Because she was never commissioned as an officer and instead served as a civilian, she was deemed ineligible under the new standards. However, Walker continued to wear her medal until her death in 1919. The honor was reinstated by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 following efforts by her descendants.

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Army base Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia was renamed Fort Walker in her honor during the Biden administration’s effort to rename military installations that had been named after Confederate generals. The Trump administration has since restored the original name.

The “Hellfighters” who held their ground

than 350,000 Black U.S. service members served in World War I but due to discrimination, 89% were assigned to labor support units.
However, one segregated regiment emerged from the war highly decorated and renowned: the 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters.

Originally organized as the 15th New York National Guard Regiment — New York State’s first Black National Guard unit — it was primarily made up of residents from New York City’s Harlem neighborhood. After the United States entered World War I, they expanded to include volunteers from across the East Coast.

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The 369th Regiment arrived in France in December 1917 and, for their first three months overseas, were assigned to unloading ships and building roads and railroads. They were then transferred to the French Army – white, American soldiers refused to fight alongside them – and placed on the front lines. Despite being an American infantry regiment, they never again served under U.S. command for the remainder of the war.

The regiment entered the trenches on April 8, 1918, and remained on the front lines for 191 days — the longest period of continuous combat service of any American unit of comparable size during World War I. The regiment also never lost ground, and not a single soldier was captured.

It is believed that the nickname “Hellfighters” was first given to the regiment by the Germans because of their ferocity in battle, and the name Harlem Hellfighters soon stuck.

In November 1918, the regiment became the first Americans — and the first regiment of any Allied army — to march into Germany after the war.

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By the end of the war, 171 Harlem Hellfighters had earned the Croix de Guerre, a French military award for bravery and valor. The regiment itself also received a Croix de Guerre unit citation for its acts of heroism in combat. In addition, members of the regiment earned numerous awards from the U.S. government, including the Distinguished Service Cross and a Medal of Honor awarded to Pvt. Henry Johnson in 2015. The Harlem Hellfighters were also awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2021, which was presented to their descendants in 2025.

The Harlem Hellfighters were the first New York combat unit to return home. The same regiment that had been denied a place in the farewell parade a year prior because its members were Black was honored with a victory parade.

Despite their sacrifices and distinguished service, some veterans of the Harlem Hellfighters were lynched upon their return home by white mobs that resented Black veterans.

The Marine that was a … duck?

On Nov. 20, 1943, one duck “stormed” the shores of the Japanese-fortified atoll Tarawa during World War II alongside 18,000 Marines.

Marine Cpl. Francis “Pappy” Fagan won the female duck in a poker game in New Zealand before heading to the Pacific theater. The bird was given the rank of sergeant and the name Siwash – a derogatory term for Indigenous people native to the Pacific Northwest – after Sgt. Jack “Siwash” Cornelius.

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Known also as the Mighty Devil Duck, she was a great morale booster – and beer-drinking pal – for all the Marines she spent time with, but she was cemented into Marine Corps lore for her actions during the invasion of Tarawa.

The island was heavily defended and was the first of many bloody battles the Marine Corps fought in the Central Pacific. Thousands of U.S., Japanese and Korean soldiers were killed.

One of the non-human casualties was a Japanese rooster, taken down by Devil Duck herself. Fagan later told a St. Louis newspaper, recalling the encounter, “The rooster didn’t have a chance. The Devil Duck whipped him and chased him 30 feet up the beach.”

There were discussions among the Marines about awarding a Purple Heart to the Devil Duck (which they had initially mistaken for a male until it later laid eggs). Instead, they gave the duck a citation for bravery:

The Mighty Devil Duck fought in two more battles in the Pacific Theater: the Battle of Saipan and the Battle of Tinian. At Tinian, the duck captured a tiny Japanese duck, according to news reports.

When she returned home with Fagan, she lived out the rest of her days at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo before her death in 1954 from liver disease.

Taxidermied and presented to the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Virginia, the onetime mascot remains a legend of U.S. military history.