Lt. Col Matt Urban: America’s One man army

7 Purple Hearts,1 Medal of Honor, 2 Silver Stars, Bronze with V

“Urban-itis”: Running towards the enemy and defeating them

Matt Urban became an inspirational meme to his men by running towards the enemy, attacking and winning. One of the most decorated soldiers in WW2, he was wounded multiple times in several different theaters of the war. North Africa: wounded, charged the Germans killing one with a knife; Italy: daring raids on Germans, shot down Stuka by manning machine guns on a landing craft; France: grabbed a bazooka and took out two tanks while wounded from tank fire, broke out of hospital and headed back to Normandy with a cane limping; took out a machine gun, saved a tank commander, and rallied troops to attack while manning a tank .50 cal.; took shrapnel to the chest near his heart, refused to evacuate, shot through the neck destroying his larynx while charging a machine gun nest. They thought him dead, gave him last rites but he survived and went on to be promoted to Lt. Colonel before his discharge in 1946. They kept telling him to quit: He refused. He was 24 years old.

“Urban-itis” is in you. Set it free.