Imagine being a successful Hollywood screen actor in 1955 and starring in the lead role in a movie based on your bestseller -- the autobiography of your life and heroism during World War II. But this young star -- a poor sharecropper's son with an 8th grade education, and once considered too short to be a soldier -- had already shown the world that anything was possible.

Born on this date in 1924 near Kingston, this native son would become the most decorated combat soldier in the nation's history. He served in eight European campaigns, two amphibious assaults and was wounded three times. By the age of 21, he had received 33 awards, citations and decorations, including every medal of valor our nation awarded. In 1945 a photo on the cover of Life Magazine landed him in Hollywood where he would later appear in 44 feature films and become a successful country music songwriter.

Do you know the name of this American hero?

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