Vile Atheist
Loud and Obnoxious
When you were a kid, you probably looked up to the fastest runner, the best ball player, the champion marble shooter. I look up to Leo Major, an epic Canadian war hero sniper who fought in WWII and the Korean War. You may have heard of him. They even named a constellation after him.
It all started on D-Day, after the Canadians landed at Juno Beach. He saw a German armoured personnel carrier and in broad daylight he charges out, kills the squad of Nazis, and steals the APC. Turns out the APC contained vital communication equipment and Nazi codes that the Allies later used to find out what those scoundrel Nazis were up to.
A few days later, he runs into a patrol of SS officers, the most elite units Hitler could field. He killed all four of them, but before the last one died, he managed to throw a phosphorous grenade in Major's face and blinded him in one eye. Now, this would stop most people from continuing on; at least that was the opinion of a Canadian Army doctor. The medical doctor is reported to have told him, "My friend the war is over for you. You are going back to England." In true ****** fashion, he replies "No way! Sorry, but I have a war to finish." He refused to be evacuated. He argued that as long as he had one eye to look down the scope of his rifle, he could serve his country.
During the Battle of the Scheldt in the Netherlands, 60,000 Allied soldiers (mostly Canadians) squared off against 90,000 Nazis in heavily-fortified positions. Major was among those Canadians who won the battle. He was doing some recon and he spotted two Nazi soldiers along a dike. He captured the first Nazi and used him to bait the second. Major killed him. He then captured their commanding officer. The Nazi garrison put their arms up in surrender when Major killed another three.
Nearby, SS troops were watching their fellow Nazis being taken prisoner by the Canadians and started firing on their own troops. Major shrugged off the bullets and escorted the prisoners to the Canadian line while ordering a passing Canadian tank to take out the pestering SS. He took back 93 prisoners.
For this great act of courage, he was chosen to receive a Distinguished Conduct Medal, but refused because he thought Monty (the British general who was awarding the medal) was a worthless douche and any medal that Monty gave out must be as worthless as him. That takes some serious balls from a private.
In February of 1945, he was travelling in a Bren Carrier that struck a landmine. His back was broken in three (3) places, he had four (4) broken ribs, and both his ankles were broken. He needed to be transported to a hospital 30 miles away. The Canadians bringing him back stopped every 15 minutes to inject morphine into him.
The doctors told him yet again the war was over for him, but Major would have none of that. A week later, he escaped from the hospital, blinded in one eye, two broken ankles, four broken ribs, and back broken in three places.
Over a month later, his unit - Regiment de la Chaudiere - was ordered to liberate the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands. The Canadian commanding officer asked for two volunteers to recon the area first before they opened fire with artillery. Naturally, Leo Major volunteered. Par the course for the titanium testicles this guy possesses. His good friend - Willie Arsenault - a French-Canadian lumberjack commando - was the other volunteer.
Since they didn't want Dutch civilians to die in the attack, the pair of them (2 men) attempted to take the city of Zwolle from the Nazis. But disaster struck when the ******* Nazis killed Willie. This sent Leo Major into a berserk bloodlust. He decided to take the town by himself.
He started off by killing two Nazis and capturing the driver of a vehicle who he had lead him to a Nazi officer who was having a drink in the bar. Coincidentally, they could both speak French. Major warned the Nazis the Canadian artillery would rain down on the city at 6am, causing heavy Nazi and civilian casualties. He then left the bar and started shooting and throwing grenades around town, making as much noise as possible. This made the Nazis think the Canadians were attacking in earnest.
As he was doing this, he would kill and capture Nazis, leading small groups of 8-10 prisoners back to the Canadian lines before returning back to the city. He set the Gestapo headquarters on fire. He found the SS headquarters with eight officers inside. He killed four of them. The other four fled.
Two of the SS he had killed were dressed up as Dutch Resistance members. He discovered the SS had infiltrated the Dutch Resistance. At 4:30am, his attack was so successful, the scared crapless Nazis retreated from Zwolle. Major had captured the city single-handedly. For this action, he received a DCM.
But the ***-kicking doesn't end here. Leo Major is the only soldier of the Allied forces to be awarded two DCMs in two different wars (World War II and Korea).
The Third US Infantry division (~10,000 men) had been holding Hill 355 in Korea. The 64th Chinese Army (~40,000 men) attacked the Americans and pushed them back off the hill. In order to recoup the ground lost by the Americans, the Canadian commander of the Van Doos (a French-Canadian regiment that is currently fighting in Afghanistan) sent 20 Canadian snipers creeping up the hill led by Leo Major, through the Chinese Army.
At a signal, Major's snipers opened fire on the Chinese, who were panicked and confused as to why the shooting was coming from WITHIN their position, rather than from outside. By 12:45am that day, they had retaken the hill. A couple hours later, the Chinese reorganized. The 190th and 191st Chinese divisions (~14,000 men) counterattacked the 20 Canadians.
Leo Major was given a forceful order to retreat. Only an insane man would lead 20 men against 14,000 screaming soldiers of China. Major ordered his men to hold position as Canadian artillery were raining hell on their position just feet away, absolutely destroying the Chinese counterattack. For three days, Major and his 20 Canadian snipers held off repeated Chinese counter-attacks until the Americans finally came back to join the fight, once they saw the licking a handful of Canucks were giving those Commies. For this action, Major received another DCM. 20 Canadian snipers had captured and defended a hill from a total of 40,000 Chinese where an entire American division was forced to retreat.
In 2008, this brave, ballsy Montrealer died at the age of 87. The people of the city of Zwolle still celebrate Leo and are still thankful decades later that he single-handedly liberated their town. Major is quoted as saying [SIZE=-1]"I fought the war with only one eye, and I did pretty good."[/SIZE]
Who are your favourite war heroes?
It all started on D-Day, after the Canadians landed at Juno Beach. He saw a German armoured personnel carrier and in broad daylight he charges out, kills the squad of Nazis, and steals the APC. Turns out the APC contained vital communication equipment and Nazi codes that the Allies later used to find out what those scoundrel Nazis were up to.
A few days later, he runs into a patrol of SS officers, the most elite units Hitler could field. He killed all four of them, but before the last one died, he managed to throw a phosphorous grenade in Major's face and blinded him in one eye. Now, this would stop most people from continuing on; at least that was the opinion of a Canadian Army doctor. The medical doctor is reported to have told him, "My friend the war is over for you. You are going back to England." In true ****** fashion, he replies "No way! Sorry, but I have a war to finish." He refused to be evacuated. He argued that as long as he had one eye to look down the scope of his rifle, he could serve his country.
During the Battle of the Scheldt in the Netherlands, 60,000 Allied soldiers (mostly Canadians) squared off against 90,000 Nazis in heavily-fortified positions. Major was among those Canadians who won the battle. He was doing some recon and he spotted two Nazi soldiers along a dike. He captured the first Nazi and used him to bait the second. Major killed him. He then captured their commanding officer. The Nazi garrison put their arms up in surrender when Major killed another three.
Nearby, SS troops were watching their fellow Nazis being taken prisoner by the Canadians and started firing on their own troops. Major shrugged off the bullets and escorted the prisoners to the Canadian line while ordering a passing Canadian tank to take out the pestering SS. He took back 93 prisoners.
For this great act of courage, he was chosen to receive a Distinguished Conduct Medal, but refused because he thought Monty (the British general who was awarding the medal) was a worthless douche and any medal that Monty gave out must be as worthless as him. That takes some serious balls from a private.
In February of 1945, he was travelling in a Bren Carrier that struck a landmine. His back was broken in three (3) places, he had four (4) broken ribs, and both his ankles were broken. He needed to be transported to a hospital 30 miles away. The Canadians bringing him back stopped every 15 minutes to inject morphine into him.
The doctors told him yet again the war was over for him, but Major would have none of that. A week later, he escaped from the hospital, blinded in one eye, two broken ankles, four broken ribs, and back broken in three places.
Over a month later, his unit - Regiment de la Chaudiere - was ordered to liberate the city of Zwolle in the Netherlands. The Canadian commanding officer asked for two volunteers to recon the area first before they opened fire with artillery. Naturally, Leo Major volunteered. Par the course for the titanium testicles this guy possesses. His good friend - Willie Arsenault - a French-Canadian lumberjack commando - was the other volunteer.
Since they didn't want Dutch civilians to die in the attack, the pair of them (2 men) attempted to take the city of Zwolle from the Nazis. But disaster struck when the ******* Nazis killed Willie. This sent Leo Major into a berserk bloodlust. He decided to take the town by himself.
He started off by killing two Nazis and capturing the driver of a vehicle who he had lead him to a Nazi officer who was having a drink in the bar. Coincidentally, they could both speak French. Major warned the Nazis the Canadian artillery would rain down on the city at 6am, causing heavy Nazi and civilian casualties. He then left the bar and started shooting and throwing grenades around town, making as much noise as possible. This made the Nazis think the Canadians were attacking in earnest.
As he was doing this, he would kill and capture Nazis, leading small groups of 8-10 prisoners back to the Canadian lines before returning back to the city. He set the Gestapo headquarters on fire. He found the SS headquarters with eight officers inside. He killed four of them. The other four fled.
Two of the SS he had killed were dressed up as Dutch Resistance members. He discovered the SS had infiltrated the Dutch Resistance. At 4:30am, his attack was so successful, the scared crapless Nazis retreated from Zwolle. Major had captured the city single-handedly. For this action, he received a DCM.
But the ***-kicking doesn't end here. Leo Major is the only soldier of the Allied forces to be awarded two DCMs in two different wars (World War II and Korea).
The Third US Infantry division (~10,000 men) had been holding Hill 355 in Korea. The 64th Chinese Army (~40,000 men) attacked the Americans and pushed them back off the hill. In order to recoup the ground lost by the Americans, the Canadian commander of the Van Doos (a French-Canadian regiment that is currently fighting in Afghanistan) sent 20 Canadian snipers creeping up the hill led by Leo Major, through the Chinese Army.
At a signal, Major's snipers opened fire on the Chinese, who were panicked and confused as to why the shooting was coming from WITHIN their position, rather than from outside. By 12:45am that day, they had retaken the hill. A couple hours later, the Chinese reorganized. The 190th and 191st Chinese divisions (~14,000 men) counterattacked the 20 Canadians.
Leo Major was given a forceful order to retreat. Only an insane man would lead 20 men against 14,000 screaming soldiers of China. Major ordered his men to hold position as Canadian artillery were raining hell on their position just feet away, absolutely destroying the Chinese counterattack. For three days, Major and his 20 Canadian snipers held off repeated Chinese counter-attacks until the Americans finally came back to join the fight, once they saw the licking a handful of Canucks were giving those Commies. For this action, Major received another DCM. 20 Canadian snipers had captured and defended a hill from a total of 40,000 Chinese where an entire American division was forced to retreat.
In 2008, this brave, ballsy Montrealer died at the age of 87. The people of the city of Zwolle still celebrate Leo and are still thankful decades later that he single-handedly liberated their town. Major is quoted as saying [SIZE=-1]"I fought the war with only one eye, and I did pretty good."[/SIZE]
Who are your favourite war heroes?
