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Lenny Kravitz’s Hero Uncle and Other Lesser Known American Heroes

Khalid Elhassan August 18, 2020 35 min

American Revolutionary War - United States — The British surrender at Yorktown. Library of Congress

23. Mayhem

Marcelino Serna crawled until he reached an advantageous position within grenade lobbing range of the enemy. He then went into action, tossing three grenades into the packed German trench. Serna then opened fire with his rifle and pistol on the stunned survivors. Moving to a new position after every few shots, Serna tricked the Germans into believing that there were plenty more American soldiers all around them, not just Serna alone.

Within minutes, 26 Germans were dead, and another 24 surrendered. Serna remained on the front after his greatest feat of heroism, fighting alongside his comrades, until he was wounded 4 days before the war ended.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.