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76 years ago tonight, James Hendrix [and we're not talking about the one who briefly served in the 101st], a bazooka man with the 4th Armored Division, was on patrol near Assenois, Belgium.

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The day after Christmas saw James' 4th Armored Division put pressure on the final German holdout ahead of the southern sector in Bastogne.

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The 19-year-old had a tough life up to that point.

The oldest of 14 children in Lepanto, Arkansas, he had to leave school in the third grade to work in the fields with his sharecropper father.

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On December 26, 1944, he was with the leading element engaged in the final thrust to break through to Bastogne.

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~ 7PM, his element is halted by a fierce combination of artillery and small arms fire.

A Panzer element is moving directly toward his company [Company C, 53rd Armored Infantry Battalion].

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James is having none of it. He jumps out of his half-track and advanced against two 88mm guns with only his rifle, forcing the German mortar crews to surrender.

He isn't done.

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James then runs to the aid of two 4th Armored Division Soldiers, holding off two German machine guns until the wounded men were evacuated.

He isn't done.

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Braving enemy sniper fire and exploding mines, he then runs to pull another wounded Soldier out of a burning half-track.

He pulls the man out, extinguishes his clothes, and treats the man's wounds.

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After the war, he was invited to the White House to receive the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman presented James with the Medal of Honor in a White House ceremony.

James had never heard of the Medal of Honor and was honored to meet his president.

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The night before the ceremony, the Willard Hotel in DC where James and his Family were staying, refused the Hendrix family entry into its dining room.

The reason: James' father did not have a jacket and tie.

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James, who felt he lacked the social graces for the White House, was terrified he'd somehow embarrass his unit in the presence of Truman, but James and the humble Missouri farmer's son hit it off.

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But James' story doesn't end there.

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After the war, James reenlist to serve as a Paratrooper.

In 1949, a catastrophic mishap during a training jump on Fort Benning: James' main T-7 chute got caught in his left boot buckle as he exited the C-47. He smartly opened his reserve.

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Upon opening, James' reserve wrapped around his main chute. He was in a free fall.

~ 300 feet from James wrestled the reserve free and it partially opened.

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Moments before hitting the ground, he formed a "V" with his body -- keeping head and feet high, grabbing his ankles.

He landed on his back in a plowed field, cushioned enough by the remnants of the chutes to escape with only severe bruises.

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Hearing this story, Harry Truman invited James back to the White House.

Truman told James he couldn't believe their luck: he somehow was reelected president and James somehow survived a parachute failure.

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Truman legitimately saw himself in James: a simple man who rose to greatness when his Nation needed it.

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James fought in the Korean War and retired as an Army Master Sergeant in 1965.

[END]

James died of throat cancer at age 77 in 2002. He left behind four daughters and eight grandchildren.

What a set of stories he left them with.