On this day, 81 years ago, on July 7, 1944, Captain Benjamin L. Salomon, age 29, was serving as the battalion surgeon with the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division, during the Battle of Saipan in the Mariana Islands. His aid station was set up approximately 50 yards behind the front-line foxholes.
On This Day, 81 Years Ago: Captain Benjamin L. Salomon—A Surgeon’s Sacrifice That Became Legend
July 7th, 1944. The winds across the ragged outcrops and sugar cane fields of Saipan carried with them smoke, fear, and the echoes of battle. The island, one of the Mariana Islands in the Pacific, was the epicenter of brutal fighting between American and Japanese forces during World War II. Amid the chaos, bravery flourished in unlikely places. On this day, in a story nearly lost to time, U.S. Army Captain Benjamin L. Salomon, at the age of just 29, performed a feat of valor that would echo for generations.
A Surgeon in the Shadow of the Front Lines
Captain Benjamin L. Salomon wasn’t meant to be a combatant. He was a healer—a battalion surgeon with the 2nd Battalion, 105th Infantry Regiment, 27th Infantry Division. His aid station was a makeshift tent located a mere 50 yards behind the front-line foxholes, a stone’s throw from the battlefield’s hellish violence.
Salomon’s role was clear: save lives, bandage wounds, comfort the dying. But on this morning, duty would call him to do so much more.
The Nightmare Unfolds
The Battle of Saipan had been raging for weeks. On the dawn of July 7, Japanese forces launched a massive banzai charge—the largest during the Pacific War—pouring thousands of soldiers in a last, desperate human wave against American lines. The surge quickly overwhelmed forward positions. The enemy broke through, flooding the area with violence and chaos, sweeping past the foxholes to the medical tents.
Inside his aid station, Salomon and his team worked furiously on the wounded—men battered by shrapnel, gunfire, and grenades. Suddenly, Japanese soldiers burst into the tent. First, a medic was killed. Then, a wounded patient. Salomon sprang into action, fighting off attackers with his bare hands. He killed two, then commandeered a rifle to fend off more.
Realizing the perimeter was collapsing and the line of retreat for his patients was insecure, Salomon stoically organized the evacuation. He instructed the walking wounded to flee through an escape route he cleared—he would be the last one out, holding the line so others could escape to safety.
The Ultimate Stand
As the tide of enemy fighters pressed inexorably forward, Captain Salomon transformed from healer to last defender. Alone, he held the aid station, manning a machine gun left by a fallen soldier. Over the next minutes—and perhaps hours—witnesses and later investigators pieced together the astonishing tale of his final stand.
When American forces reclaimed the ground the next day, they found Salomon’s body slumped behind the .30 caliber machine gun, barrels melted from constant, unrelenting fire. Around him, at the mouth of the medical tent, lay the bodies of 98 enemy soldiers—a testament to his determination to protect the wounded under his care.
Salomon himself had been shot dozens of times, his body riddled with bayonet wounds. He had fought until both gun and body failed him.
A Legacy Delayed—And Finally Recognized
The rules of war—the Geneva Convention—state that medical personnel are to remain non-combatant. But Salomon, forced to choose between surrendering his patients to certain death or defending them, chose the latter. For decades, his story remained largely unknown. Internal debates about whether a medic could earn the Medal of Honor, given the special non-combatant status, stalled efforts to recognize his unparalleled bravery.
It was not until nearly 60 years after his death, in 2002, that Captain Benjamin L. Salomon was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for his extraordinary heroism at Saipan. The citation reads, in part: “His courageous decision and his gallant actions were above and beyond the call of duty and exemplify the highest traditions of the U.S. Army.”
An Enduring Tribute
Today, 81 years later, the story of Captain Benjamin L. Salomon serves as a reminder of sacrifice and an example of what it means to answer the call of duty—not only as a soldier, but as a human being. In the midst of horror, surrounded by the wounded and dying, Salomon’s devotion to his men and to the oath he swore as a physician shines as brightly as any medal.
He reminds us that courage is not just found in the charge, but in the decision to stand firm, even in impossible circumstances. As the world remembers the pivotal battles of World War II, let us not forget the surgeon who, for one desperate day on Saipan, fought not just for victory, but for the lives entrusted to him.
On this day, July 7th, we honor Captain Benjamin L. Salomon—a healer, a warrior, and a hero whose legacy endures.
