How a Blind Machinegunner Hit on Target 

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Another nearly forgotten hero, now remembered forever. R.I.P. Johnny "The Indian" Rivers. W.W.II Navy Cross recipient.

We have a similar story here in Italy: Rosario Rondazzo (Gold Medal to valor) was fighting in Russia when he got hit by a mortar round and had his arm amputated. To cover the retreat of his unit he reached a fixed machine gun manuvering it with his lef arm and squeazing the trigger with his mouth. Eventually he got overun and killed. Later an officer found his body, next to him his teeth that were crushed by the recoil of the weapon while firing.

The whole time I kept thinking “I wonder if he’ll mention Leckie” when you did I got goosebumps. His book helmet for my pillow is amazing, his description of the Indian’s gallantry is beautiful. if you like the actor for Bob Leckie in the pacific, he voices the audiobook on audible. It is a really good listen, and with Leckie’s background in writing, is extremely poetic.

The animations just get better and better. It amazes me all the progress Yarnhub has made over the last couple years.

My Great Grandpa who was a Native American from the Cherokee Tribe fought there on that same exact battle. Joined the Marine Corps at such a young age before the war even started to support his poor family in the depression, and soon found himself across the pacific fighting across island after island. I truly wish I could've gotten the chance to meet him before he died as I was at such a young age, his stories never cease to amaze me.

It is scary to think about a blind machine gunner

Just look at this animation! Simply amazing, compared to the content 4 years ago this improvement is huge!

A story that is by far inspiration for any American. As this story unfolds we the watcher of this channel are nothing but in awe how this keeps getting better everytime. Well done yarnhub. Someone get these storytellers a medal. Carry on yarnhub.

RIP Johnny Rivers 🫡 You fought and died like a Warrior. Your ancestors would of been proud. May your story never be forgotten.

Schmid and Diamond are men of focus, commitment and *sheer fucking will*

As a Native American of Ogallala Lakota/souix decent, a sincere thank you from the bottom of my heart for allowing the spirit of such a brave warrior to live on through your retelling of this battle.

Yarnhub is so underrated that it saddens me. (I can't have enough of that narrator's voice)

There was also another soldier in the same battle named Rodger Young that was nearly blind and is deaf. He faked the hearing test to get into the Army and is a Medal of Honor recipient for diverting machine fire from a nearby bunker. Despite being wounded twice, he continued to get to the bunker and lobbed grenades into it, but he was killed in the process of throwing grenades into the bunker which saved his platoon during a retreat. He has a song about him called "The Ballad of Rodger Young".

First heard of Rivers, but I really wish he also get remembered like how both Schmid and Leroy is remembered. He's done lot for them too.

I am not from the U. S. But i can feel heroism runs all over my body. RIP Johny "The Indian" Rivers. And thank you, Yarnhub, for keeping him lives on the history from now.

It should have been MoH for the three. I know this award is not given in a group but still, one blind man firing with the help of his wounded friend whose arms were too wounded from a grenade and the 3rd one who set the tone of the fight in the beginning by holding the line amidst wave of Japanese soldiers...

May Johnny the Indian Rivers always and forevermore be remembered. May they all be remembered.

In the version I heard of this story, after Rivers was killed, his finger got caught on the trigger and causing the machine gun to fire two hundred rounds before the other men realized he was dead and removed his body. Great video by the way!

Thank you, those 3, Diamond, Rivers, and Schmidt, especially Rivers, are now forgotten and when I tell people they might not believe me and their story is one that should be told, you did them well, and also I felt the 3 deserved the Congressional Medal of Honor.

The public might have forgot but trust me the Marine Corps did not. Great video. Semper Fi

Damn Yarnhub, there was me thinking this absolutely would be about John Basilone and you pulled the rug out from under me yet again with a story I'd never heard before! Great work guys, you genuinely never disappoint! 👏

Fantastic story and animation, but I also know the 1st Marines did not have M1 garands in time for Guadalcanal. For Private Jacobs to have an M1 as he does in this animation he must be a time traveler!

Another great escapade as always! We are losing these stories faster and faster by the day. We need to record as many as possible while we still can. I had no idea you guys worked with Adam Makos on some of these videos?! That's awesome! I loved his book "A Higher Call"

Yet another incredible story told in your fascinating style, and accompanied by the awesome animation I've come to appreciate. Outstanding work again, Yarnhub. Your team is second to none in this genre. Thank you again for your unrelenting dedication to making quality content. I genuinely look forward to each and every one of your uploads.

A truly great story - the animation is superb, espescially the opening showing the men waiting for the attack. I'm a pacifist by temperament and Christian conviction, but admire brave men such as these who had the guts to do what I know I couldn't. The Hacksaw Ridge story was superb, by the way. I was quoting it at church today.

The progress of the videos is phenomenal! LOVE LOVE LOVE the progress. The stories, some known some unknown, NEED to be shared. People need to be reminded of everyday people's extraordinary feats in the face of danger. We hear too often of the ridiculous things of today's spoiled people and not enough of people like Witold Pilecki and his brave actions. His story needs to be told, too.

I’m a history major that wants to get into highschool/college level military history your videos are absolutely MAGNIFICENT! I thoroughly enjoy your attention to detail and the animations are amazing! Thank you for doing this amazing service for us!

Nice that you mentioned Leckie near the end. I read his book, Helmet for My Pillow, about his time fighting from Guadalcanal to Pelalu. His coverage of that battle referred Alligator Creek as the Tenaru River. Richard Tregaskis did the same thing in Guadalcanal Diary.

You always never dissapoint us, Yarnhub❤

I remember reading about that Japanese unit. They were just a detachment of their main unit. Arriving by Destroyer, six of them to be exact, they landed unopposed and supposedly undetected with orders to dig in and wait for the rest of their parent unit. Ichiki, though, disobeyed and opted to attack despite being warned he would be gravely outnumbered and that the full breadth of the US Marines on the island were unknown. Having fought in China, he's actually the guy who kicked off the whole Second Sino-Japanese War. This event is better known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident. He was also supposed to help spearhead the landings on Midway and occupy the islands. So, he may have been chomping at the bit to get over the fact that he and fellows were turned back. Some more recent claims say that Ichiki was ordered to assault the heavily defended American positions. Part of the reason why, was to cover up the defeat at Midway. But at the same time, the Japanese High Command had, apparently, also underestimated the size of the American landings and therefore had ordered the attack under the mistaken impression Ichiki and his Detachment could win. It's hard to say. Given his attitude, which literally started a war, I would be inclined to believe he made a gross mistake in judgement. Yet, at the same time, hubris was running rampant in the Japanese leadership and fear of what happened at Midway was potentially a boiling reality. So, a quick win that could be built on the recent success at defeating a supposedly large force of American Warships for light losses. Either way, Ichiki and his men ran into the one thing they couldn't overcome. Well trained, led, and equipped Americans in a strongly fortified position, aware they were on the island and expecting trouble.

This channel is great, highlighting these obscure and unknow stories of heroes such as these that I wouldnt know about otherwise. Keep up the great work!

you know its a good day when yarnhub posts

Robert Leckie mentioned "Johnny the Indian" in Helmet for my Pillow. The only thing I remembered is that he dies. Great video.

I really appreciate how much effort you guys put in your videos

Love your content. Crazy to see how much you’ve improved!

Saw the thumbnail and immediately thought "THAT MAN THAT WENT BLIND IN THE PACIFIC AND KILLED A FEW HUNDRED JAPANESE GUYS"

What did we gain:better animation than ever What did it cost: 1 month uploads

Bro is so skilled he doesn't need eyes to hit enemies

I shed tears of this. I'm getting that book soon or later

the accuracy of these videos is phenomenal,good job yarnhub

This looks like a movie! Yarnhubs progression is so impressive, keep up the good work guys!!

These animations make history 10000000 times better!

the special effects are so fucking good. Keep it up Yarnhub! getting better and better

once again, i'm speechless. thanks for the video and keep the excellent work!

it's incredible to see the talent in your videos, your vidoes are genuinely my favourite on the platform and I look forward to every upload, love your work!

Animations just keep getting better.

soldier 1: Don’t worry he doesn’t see us. Soldier 2: EXACTLY!

RIP Johnny Rivers. You fought bravely

wow i remember when yarnhub just made like 2d aminations and now this, amazing

Wonderful video as always! Just a reminder, Marines are not and should not be referred to as soldiers. They're Marines.

Brings a whole new meaning to “blind firing”

Animation gets better as always, the details of arisaka, one more familiar scene from "pacific"

It is awesome how yarnhub's animations evolved! :D

Can we just appreciate the attention to detail Yarnhub has in their vids. Every bit of equipment was rendered perfectly. If I had to nitpick I'd point out that the Japanese didn't ditch the dust covers from their rifles anywhere near as often as conventional wisdom would have you believe, but I have seen far bigger studios make far more egregious errors. Full marks, fantastic work

Nothing is better than your animation ✨🌟⭐💫⭐⭐🌟🌟✨

Me when my game lags out mid battle so I'm just spamming the fire button

absolute legend, this is the reason we should give more respect to veterans.

The mortarman who took out the MG eplacement in the LVT, one PFC Sidney Phillips (I may be wrong on the name here) became a surviving veteran of the subsequent Bougainville campaign and fought through 1943, before being rotated to the states. He had the honor of being a close friend to Eugene B. Sledge, author of 'With the Old Breed', being directly addressed by First Lady Eleanor while serving guard duty at a hospital (Can't exactly rmb), and was a key source to the subsequent book The Pacific, where I found many different perspectives of the Pacific WWII, incliding Johnny Rivers above, where Sid and his marines circulated and heard a rumor that Rivers had killed 100 Japanese troops after he'd died, his dead fingers frozen over the trigger

Best animation on RU-vid 💯

Another great video gentlemen! Thank you so much for bringing these stories back to life!

The 1 Marine Division in 1942 did not have M1 Garand rifles. The only M1’s that they saw in that year was with the US Army. The Marines had model 1903 Springfield rifles. They were bolt action rifles.

One Piece Marines: WE´RE BULLSH#T U.S. Marines: Where´s Monkey D. Luffy? we don´t hurt him (Machine Gun Noises)

Thank you Indian you’re not forgotten. And thank you to all the rest of them who never even got a chance to be remembered. Thank you our flag flies high in your honor.

I love when my favourite music and favourite animators come together.😊

The Pacific is such an underrated theatre! Good to see you here in the islands Yarnhub!

Yet another an amazing animation, thank you! I’m looking forward to the movie with Sabaton! 😊

" Extra ordinary heroism. " God bless them .

I think this was seen in HBO's the pacific miniseries. But I never heard of that blind machinegunner.

You don’t really need eyes if the enemy are just charging straight for it.

mate what a great story to remind us all of those that made the ultimate sacrifice. so we all today can live for the most part in peace. Great work. i am really enjoying your recreationss.

Is this guy a poet, all the videos starts like Shakespeare

RIP ,Johny ' The Indian ' Rivers. A true Hero. May you be always remembered . Excellent video.

This was in an episode of Shootout, back when the History channel had decent shows.

Very touching and inspiring! Thanks for the story!

"War has no heroes or glory" Glory results form the actions that prevent war." Marvelous Man (Every war is a civil war)

Story like this from Australia, Edward “Teddy” Sheean. He was an AA gun loader on a Corvette in 1942. His ship was under attack from Japanese aircraft, he was hit multiple times and could barley stand. His ship began to sink and so he tied himself to the AA gun while bleeding and sinking after the call for abandon ship. He would go down with the ship firing the AA gun.

what a wonderful Video Yarnhub!

You guys never disappoint with amazing content, loved the story and animation, keep up the good work 😁👍

Bro isn't it crazy how much consistently you upload and the quality of the video keeps improving good work

I loved the animation it just keeps getting better

My grandfather fought along side these men. He was there in the Pacific with the First Marines.

Everytime I hear Stories of these mad patriots, I can't help but think about my grandpa's rather lucky, very short, uneventful story he told me about his time in WW2. Stationed in SEA on the coast, while the Japanese were hiding in-land. Barely any fights or casualties, while he was there, war ended, he went back home to Europe and rebuilt. He said it was like vacation.

These people are using alien technology to make animations better than our eyesight

That was amazing. These men have balls of steel. It's a shame that Johnny "The Indian" Rivers was not memorialized.

Your videos/stories never fail to both intrigue and amaze me, not only is the storytelling fantastic, the quality of animation is astounding! Yet another fantastic mini-documentary, bravo yarnhub!

Yarnhub, you are the finest site on RU-vid. You bring a richness and truth to the heroism, and Valor of our fathers, grandfather's, and brother veterans. Your sense of accuracy is astounding. A heartfelt thank-you from all is well deserved.

I love every video your animation improves from 2d animation to your evolving 3d animation, its been 2 years i've been watching you. Always amaze by your storytelling and your animation.

SO REALISTIC OMG

The animations just get better and better! What a great watch!

Diamond was such a G for sticking with him ngl

Best animation yet.

Its 2 am and I still watch yarnhub

I love your hard work and voice

Fantastic video. True heroes. Love this channel

great animation yarnhub it is crazy to see how far you have come! i remember your b-17 videos, then coming back to here and man! you have changed your animation style a lot! i love learning history from you, it makes my day better gracias amigo!

I'm familiar with the actions of these 2 marines from an episode of a docu series called "Shootout!". Really quite an outstanding story of these marines.

I have never heard of this thank you guys so much for telling this story!

8:31 Seppuku=The act of a person impaling themselfs with a sharp object, such as a sword or a knife.

Do the Tiger of Kinmen, how a stuck in sand M5A1 light tank facing the other way, halted the PLA invasion.