On 3 March 1945, PhM3c Jack Williams, USN, attached with the 5th Marine Division on Iwo Jima, helped save the lives of 14 Marines—5 others were dead before he reached them—rendering aid in front of the battle lines and using his own body as a screen to protect the fallen. Struck in the abdomen and groin by hostile rifle fire, Williams ignored his own need for medical help, heroically ministering to casualties in the face of pain and profuse bleeding before being killed by a sniper bullet.