Banzai! Banzai!” screamed the Japanese at the top of their lungs as they launched a ferocious night attack against Marines dug in on Guadalcanal. It was October 24, 1942, and the intensity of the Japanese assault in the darkness was terrifying.

Through it all, however, Sergeant “Manila John” Basilone—his fellow Marines gave him that nickname because Basilone had been a soldier in the Philippines in the late 1930s—kept his cool.