The Patriot Post® · Readers' Choice: Best of Valor for 2025
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In this special year-end edition, our editors have compiled a list of Mark Alexander’s most-read 2025 “Profiles of Valor.” You can read all of Alexander’s Valor columns in his Armed Forces and Military Service archive.
Profiles of Valor: A Marine’s Marine — Lewis ‘Chesty’ Puller — “We’ve been looking for the enemy for several days now, we’ve finally found them. We’re surrounded. That simplifies our problem of getting to these people and killing them.”
Profiles of Valor: PFC James ‘Doc’ McCloughan (USA) — “You’re getting drafted…you’re going to Vietnam.”
Profiles of Valor: Col Wesley Fox (USMC) — “I figured we would all stay in that valley forever, or we would all walk out together.”
Profiles of Valor: Sgt Dakota Meyer (USMC) — A Medal of Honor Marine returns to duty.
Profiles of Valor: SGM Thomas Patrick Payne (USA) — “His extraordinary heroism and selfless actions were key to liberating 75 hostages during a contested rescue mission that resulted in 20 enemies killed in action.”
Profiles of Valor: LTC William Swenson (USA) — “He called out to me and said, ‘Will, I’ve been hit.’ I was pinned down at the time, and I said, ‘All right, hang in there.’ He yelled out again, ‘Will, I’m losing it. I’m losing blood. Can’t keep doing this.’”
Profiles of Valor: MG Patrick Henry Brady (USA) — “When I have your wounded…” In his two Vietnam deployments, Brady flew more than 2,000 combat missions and daringly rescued an estimated 5,000 wounded Americans and friendlies.
Profiles of Valor: Col Harvey Barnum (USMC) —"There is no one here worthy of being a United States Marine. … There isn’t anybody here I want in my Marine Corps.“
Profiles of Valor: MCPO Edward Byers (USN) — "Very few people can say they died doing something they love, and he’ll forever be remembered in the pages of history as being a truly great hero.”
The Independence Day Medals of Honor — We are devoted to something much larger than our own self-interest, something eternal, not temporal — a willingness to sacrifice all in defense of Liberty, for ourselves and our posterity.
Profiles of Valor: SSG Clint Romesha (USA) — “I felt like that day was the first day in 10 years of military service that I did my job. This was the ultimate test of everything I had done in the service…”
Profiles of Valor: ENS Donald McPherson (USN) — The Last Ace — “I squeezed the trigger, and … then I turned and did a lot of violent maneuvers to try to get out of there without getting shot down.”
Profiles of Valor: CSM Gary Lee Littrell (USA) — “I’m wearing this medal for the 400 and some people that died those four days. I’m their representative.”
Profiles of Valor: LTC George Hardy (USAF) — “Someone was looking out over me. I feel it. Someone up there likes me, and I was able to make it out alright.”
Profiles of Valor: COL Joe Marm (USA) — “The leader of the stranded platoon was killed, and his whole chain of command were killed or wounded.”
Profiles of Valor: SSG Ty Michael Carter (USA) — Specialist Carter’s heroic actions and tactical skill were critical to the defense of Combat Outpost Keating, preventing the enemy from capturing the position and saving the lives of his fellow Soldiers.
Profiles of Valor: America’s Veterans and the Price of Liberty — Millions of Veterans have paid the heavy price of sustaining American Liberty for 250 years.
Profiles of Valor: Brig Gen Robin Olds (USAF) Triple Ace — By the end of World War II, Olds had downed 12 German fighters and destroyed 11 others on the ground in strafing runs, the only pilot to make Ace in both his P-38 and his P-51, and would earn two Silver Stars for his actions.
Profiles of Valor: CPT John James (USA) — “I’m chasing my purpose, not a paycheck. … My entire adult life, I was prepared to sacrifice everything in pursuit of my purpose.”
Profiles of Valor: MSG Wiedorfer: A Christmas Day Medal of Honor — “Something had to be done, and someone had to do it. … Luckily, their firing wasn’t too good that day. They didn’t get me.”
Join us in daily prayer for our Patriots in uniform — Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen — standing in harm’s way in defense of American Liberty, and for Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please consider a designated gift to support the National Medal of Honor Sustaining Fund through Patriot Foundation Trust, or make a check payable to “NMoH Sustaining Fund” and mail it to Patriot Foundation Trust, PO Box 407, Chattanooga, TN 37401-0407.
Semper Vigilans Fortis Paratus et Fidelis