It must be said that each of us is unlikely to realize what we are capable of if at some point an extreme life situation arises. And not just a one-time powerful surge of adrenaline, thanks to which a person can, fleeing from a predator, immediately climb an inaccessible rock, and a fragile granny can send a hefty robber flying with a single handbag.
Such cases occur relatively often – and we are surprised when reading or hearing about them in the media. But no less surprising are situations when a person in a difficult circumstances shows unprecedented fortitude and composure – when 99 out of 100 would probably give up in the face of the problem. And this thread in the AskReddit community is dedicated to various similar cases from world history, a selection of which Bored Panda has collected specially for you.
More info: Reddit
#1 Nicholas Winton
Nicholas Winton helped 669 children escape the death camp. His efforts went unrecognized for 50 years. In 1988, while sitting as a member of a TV audience, he suddenly found himself surrounded by the kids he’d rescued.
Image source: magrilo2, Hynek Moravec
#2 Witold Pilecki
Rotmistrz Witold Pilecki. He purposely made himself be caught and thrown into death camp in Auschwitz to infiltrate it and organize underground resistance and do general recon. He then escaped with another prisoner to fight in Warsaw uprising.
Image source: IloveZaki, Wikipedia
#3 Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman. When she was a slave she would do work right alongside the men. Once when she was just a child she was taken into to big house to take care of the kids, and she snuck a sugar cube. She had never had sugar before. She knew she was going to be whipped, so she ran off and hid in the pig pen for days, fighting the pigs for food, before they found her.
Later on she was struck in the head by a lead weight thrown at another slave by an angry shop owner. She suffered brain damage but was back in the fields while she was still bleeding. All her life, she would suffer from hallucinations and sleeping spells. She interpreted her visions as signs from God.
Later on, she escaped slavery and joined the underground railroad. If slaves lost their nerve and wanted to go back, she would hold them at gunpoint. During the civil war she led a naval raid on a plantation at Combahee Ferry and freed 750 enslaved people.
In the 1890s she had brain surgery, where the doctor “sawed open my skull, and raised it up, and now it feels more comfortable.”
She lived to be 90 or 91.
Image source: Marvos79, Horatio Seymour Squyer
#4 Joe Medicine Crow
Joe Medicine Crow, the last Warchief of the Crow. He completed all the ritual rights to become Warchief while fighting in WW2. Which included taking an enemies weapon, touching an enemy without killing him, leading a war party and stealing an enemies horse (he stole 50 from the SS ).
Image source: RIPcunts, Pete Souza
#5 Someone’s grandpa named Liberatus
My Grandpa Liberatus,
Was working solo on his farm in the 1950’s, when both hands were sucked into an auger slicing them up right to the shoulders. Was able to kick the controls to reverse the blades and get himself out, then drove himself in a grainery truck 45 minutes to the hospital, steering and shifting gears with his knees. Doctors were able to save one arm above the elbow but none of the other.
Still worked another 40 years with hooks for arms, Fathered 9 children, 6 after his accident and harvested 1000 acres on a hundred year old family farm. Smoked like a chimney, drank like a fish, ate red meat 3 times a day, passed away in his sleep 2 days before his 99th birthday.
He was a hard man, but absolutely devoted to his family and was a great Grandfather to over 20 grandkids. He taught me about resiliency, resourcefulness and mental toughness. Every grandkid, on their first birthday, got a rocking horse that he built in his workshop using hand tools that he built custom attachments for his prosthetics. I still have mine, from 56 years ago, as a reminder of him when times are tough.
Image source: LOUDCO-HD, Pixabay
#6 Desmond Doss
Private Desmond Doss. He refused to use a gun but carried 75 men to safety including two of the wounded Japanese soldiers on the other side & used his medical knowledge to save their lives. He is the only conscientious objector to be awarded the Medal of Honor as awarded by President Harry S. Truman.
Image source: Intelligent_Coast333, Wikipedia
#7 Any enslaved person who ran for freedom
Any enslaved person who said f**k this and ran for freedom.
Image source: Hidanas, Roslin & C
#8 A lot of unknown women
A lot of unknown women
Image source: passurepassure, Kaye
#9 Galvarino
Galvarino. He was a Mapuche warrior whose hands were amputated by Spanish conquistadors. His response? He rigged blades to his wrist stumps and led a rebellion against the Spanish.
Image source: DontBuyAHorse, Wikipedia
#10 Princess Khutulun
Khutulun, a Mongolian Princess, insisted that any man who wished to marry her must defeat her in wrestling, forfeiting horses to her if they lost.
She gained 10,000 horses defeating prospective suitors.
Image source: CorruptRiche, Maître de la Mazarine
#11 Daniel Inouye
During a WWII assault on a fortified German position in Italy, gets shot in the stomach, shrugs it off and takes out two machine gun nests. As he’s about to lob a grenade to take out a third, his right arm gets nearly amputated at the elbow by enemy fire. Now he’s staring at his useless, dangling arm still reflexively clutching a live grenade. Shouts at his platoon to stay back for fear of the grenade going off, pries the live grenade out of his useless hand and throws it with his other hand, taking out the German in the bunker. Continues to move forward killing at least one more German before getting shot, for the fifth time that day, before falling unconscious. Wakes up to members of his platoon hovering over him. Proceeds to tell them to get back to their positions because “nobody called off the war!”. Has to have his arm amputated without anesthesia at the field hospital. Comes back home, gets awarded a purple heart (and eventually a medal of honor), yet still gets refused service by a barber because they “don’t cut J*p hair”. Serves his country for 50 more years as a US senator.
While I don’t necessarily agree with his politics, I respect the life of service he led.
Image source: charging_chinchilla, Wikipedia
#12 Giles Corey
Giles “More weight” Corey was pretty bad**s. Refused to testify at the Salem witch trials, so they “pressed” him- ie. They piled rocks on top of him as torture to force him to testify that his wife was a witch. They piled rock after rock on top of him. His last words were “more weight”, then he died.
Image source: epicmoe, Wikipedia
#13 Terry Fox
I think that Terry Fox has to be up there. To run a marathon every day on the Marathon of Hope, on one leg (and a crappy prosthesis), while riddled with cancer is beyond anything I can understand. Imagine the courage and determination that required.
Image source: NibblersNosh, Ian Muttoo
#14 Roy Benavidez
Master Sergeant Roy Benavidez.
On May 2, 1968, a 12-man Special Forces patrol, which included nine Montagnard tribesmen, was surrounded by an NVA infantry battalion of about 1,000 men. Benavidez heard the radio appeal for help and boarded a helicopter to respond. Armed only with a knife, he jumped from the helicopter carrying his medical bag and ran to help the trapped patrol. Benavidez “distinguished himself by a series of daring and extremely valorous actions… and because of his gallant choice to join voluntarily his comrades who were in critical straits, to expose himself constantly to withering enemy fire, and his refusal to be stopped despite numerous severe wounds, saved the lives of at least eight men.”
At one point in the battle an NVA soldier accosted him and stabbed him with his bayonet. Benavidez pulled it out, drew his own knife, killed him and kept going, leaving his knife in the NVA soldier’s body. He later killed two more NVA soldiers with an AK-47 while providing cover fire for the people boarding the helicopter. After the battle, he was evacuated to the base camp, examined, and thought to be dead. As he was placed in a body bag among the other dead in body bags, he was suddenly recognized by a friend who called for help. A doctor came and examined him but believed Benavidez was dead. The doctor was about to zip up the body bag when Benavidez managed to spit in his face to show that he was alive. Benavidez had a total of 37 separate bullet, bayonet, and shrapnel wounds from the six-hour fight with the enemy battalion.
Image source: ComesInAnOldBox, Wikipedia
#15 Someone’s grandma
My grandmother. Her husband died of heart disease in 1948, leaving her to raise 8 children between the ages of 9 months and 13 years old. She was a saint.
Image source: Joseph_Bloggins, Yogendra Singh
#16 Henry Johnson
For your consideration…..
He was 26 years old, 5-foot-4, weighed 130 pounds and came from Albany, New York.
And on the night of May 15, 1918, Pvt. Henry Johnson, a member of the all-black 369th Infantry Regiment, found himself fighting for his life against 20 German Soldiers out in front of his unit’s trenchline.
He fired the three rounds in his French-made rifle, tossed all his hand grenades and then grabbed his Army-issue bolo knife and started stabbing. He buried the knife in the head of one attacker and then disemboweled another German soldier.
“Each slash meant something, believe me,” Johnson said later. “There wasn’t anything so fine about it,” he said. “Just fought for my life. A rabbit would have done that.”
By the time what a reporter called “The Battle of Henry Johnson” was over, Johnson had been wounded 21 times and become the first American hero of World War I.
Image source: Immediate-Ruin-9518, Wikipedia
#17 Shih Ching
Shih Ching. After marrying a pirate, she was a Chinese [escort] who inherited his fleet upon his death. She took no s**t, ruled her ships with an iron grip, and was so effective that the Chinese government dispatched an armada to put an end to her. She took 63 of their ships and kicked their bums. After two years of fighting, during which they even forced Dutch and British ships to surrender, they offered her and her 17,000 crew members amnesty. She lived to be 69 years old, kept ALL of her winnings, and spent her latter years operating a casino and brothel.
Image source: qareteryio, Wikipedia
#18 Goyaałé (Geronimo)
Also worthy of consideration: Goyaałé (Geronimo.)
“One day he came into my quarters at Fort Sill in a most peculiar mood. He told me no one could kill him, nor me either, if he willed it so. Then he bared himself to the waist. I was dumbfounded to see the number of bullet holes in his body. I knew he had been in many battles and had been fired on dozens of times, but I had never heard of anyone living with at least fifty bullet wounds on his body. Geronimo had that many scars.
Some of these bullet holes were large enough to hold small pebbles that Geronimo picked up and placed in them. Putting a pebble in a bullet wound he would make a noise like a gun, then take the pebble out and throw it on the ground. Jokingly I told him he was probably so far away that the bullets didn’t penetrate him, but that if he had been nearer they probably would have killed him. ‘No, no,’ he shouted. ‘Bullets cannot kill me!'”
– Charles F. Lummis
Image source: SkunkApe7712, Ben Wittick
#19 Stephen Hawking
Maybe not in a traditional sense, but Stephen Hawking. Dude wouldn’t let something as trivial as ALS stop him from becoming an accomplished physicist. He essentially had to do all the math in his head, without the ability to write down notes as he worked.
Image source: saggywitchtits, NASA
#20 Simo Hayha
Simo Hayha
(The famous Finnish sniper who defended the independence of Finland from the USSR in 1939 – 1940. Having received a serious wound that almost deprived him of half of his face, Simo partly regained his health and returned to duty. – BP)
Image source: Old_Man_Withers, Wikipedia
#21 Léo Major
Léo Major.
Canadian sniper/reconnaissance, lost an eye, was told you’re going home..replied with why? I only need 1 eye to snipe…liberated an entire town in holland, took over a dozen prisoners, all single handedly after his fire team partner was killed
Image source: ComfortableOk5003, Wikipedia
#22 Someone’s mom
My mom. Having to deal with my raging abusive alcoholic c**t of a father yet always being there for me.
Image source: krayzie88, Oleksandr P
#23 Audie Murphy
I think Audie Murphy is up there. For those who don’t know, most decorates US Soldier including the medal of honor. Some of his actions during WW2 include 1. Holding off a German assault with the .50 mouted atop off of a destroyed tank (M10 Jackson I believe) after gaining a battlefield commision (Sgt to LT). He had his men fall back and dig in. While ontop of the tank he was calling for IDF dangerclose pretty much right on top of himself. They got so close when the guy on the other end of the radio asked how close he said something along the lines of “give me a minute, I’ll let you talk to one of the bas***ds” This would last an hour, and he would sustain an injury to the leg and he would repel the attack 2. When him and a buddy were in a crater/foxhole by themselves, two Germans surrendered. Something felt off to him, however his buddy believed them, stood up to go detain them, except they gunned him down. So in a fit of rage, he picked up a machinegun I believed it was and went on a one man rampage. After the war, I find one of his actions that speak highly of his character is how he refused to partake in cigarette and alcohol commericals despite financial difficulty as he was aware of the influence he would have on kids.
Image source: Battleaxe0501, Wikipedia
#24 Charles Upham
Charles Upham was a NZ soldier who won 2 Victoria Crosses. He had a reputation of carrying a flour sack full of grenades instead of a rifle. If you read the wiki, it goes through the whole saga that led to his awarding of the first VC and then casually mentions that he was suffering from Dystentary at the time.
Image source: Boring_Monahan, Wikipedia
#25 The Viking at Stamford Bridge
There are a lot of good people mentioned in here for various reasons but I’ll throw out two more people.
First the unknown viking at Stamford Bridge, he held off the entire English army until they floated a soldier under the bridge to stab the viking in the testicles. Dude was straight stacking bodies before getting stabbed in the no no spot.
Second is Norman Borlaug, Norman was not a great warrior but a scientist, he developed a variant of wheat that had a higher yield and wouldn’t fall over so harvests would be greater. He has saved countless lives from dying of starvation.
Image source: Supraman83, Wikipedia
#26 Ranulph Fiennes
Lookup Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Explorer and all around bada**. And only within the last generation. First to visit both north and South Pole. Crossed Antarctica by foot. War hero. During an expedition in the arctic got frostbite and cut his fingers off with a saw. Had a heart attack in 2000. But ran 7 marathons on 7 continents in 7 days 3 years later. Pure iron in my opinion
Image source: jp112078, David Ward
#27 Jack Churchill
Jack Churchill. Went into battle armed with a broadsword, a bow and arrow, and bag pipes. In WW2.
Image source: SoLetsReddit, Wikipedia
#28 One more user’s grandma
My grandmother was definitely born in the wrong generation. She was bad a*s. She was the oldest of 8, basically helped raised her siblings. Married my grandfather (an absolute man-child) and had 7 kids.
She basically had to drag my grandfather to get a job in the 50’s. She was an excellent seamstress, making clothes for quite a few well known people in her community, even some outfits for a couple of films.
She dragged my grandfather around the world for holidays for them to enjoy, and she was wicked smart! In middle school I used to go to their house for lunch and watch the Price Is Right. Almost every time she was within $500 of the final showcases. Mad skills! If she had been born in my generation she would have been some sort of CEO, Lawyer, or Doctor.
Image source: Visual-Lobster6625, Rene Asmussen
#29 Saitō Musashibō Benkei
Saitō Musashibō Benkei. He was a Japanese monk from the 1100’s. He took part in many battles, but my favorite was his last where he had to gaurd a bridge as a suicide mission.
His master, Minamoto no Yoshitsune (another famous Japanese figure) was about to be captured (another long, but interesting story in of itself), but chose to kill himself before that could happen. Benkei had to keep the enemy from crossing the only bridge to the castle that Yoshitsune was hiding in. As Benkei was firecly loyal, he went through with it.
Benkei was a big dude, so no one was all that brave facing him, and every single one that did try crossing just got killed in a single file line. Eventually, they gave up on swords and just shot arrows from across the bridge. Even then, after getting shot by a barrage, he was still standing on his feet. Nothing they could throw could kill him.
…or so they thought. Turned out he died. He literally died on his feet and didn’t fall over until someone was brave enough to check to see the status of arrow-covered body.
TL:DR; Big scary dude stopped an army from crossing a bridge, then his corpse kept them from crossing even after he died.
Image source: Animegx43, Tsukioka Yoshitoshi
#30 Hugh Glass
“In one of the more remarkable treks known to history, Glass set his own leg, wrapped himself in the bear hide his companions had placed over him as a shroud, and began crawling. To prevent gangrene, Glass laid his wounded back on a rotting log and let the maggots eat the dead flesh. Deciding that following the Grand River would be too dangerous because of hostile tribes, Glass crawled overland south toward the Cheyenne River. It took him six weeks to reach it. Glass survived mostly on wild berries and roots. On one occasion he was able to drive two wolves from a downed bison calf, and feast on the meat. Reaching the Cheyenne, he fashioned a crude raft and floated down the river, navigating using the prominent Thunder Butte landmark. Aided by friendly natives who sewed a bear hide to his back to cover the exposed wounds as well as providing him with food and a couple of weapons to defend himself, Glass eventually reached the safety of Fort Kiowa.”
Image source: FinickyJose, Wikipedia
#31 ethanol713 reply
Earnest Shackleton
(Famous Antarctic explorer, one of the main figures in the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. The member of four Antarctic expeditions, three of which he commanded. – BP)
Image source: ethanol713, George Charles Beresford
#32 Theodore Roosevelt
Teddy Roosevelt was a bada**
Image source: RapedByCheese, Pach Bros
#33 Josef Broz Tito
Josef Broz Tito, leader of Post-WW2 Yugoslavia. He broke with Stalin and the USSR in the mid-1940s. Stalin repeatedly tried to have Tito killed. When Stalin died a private letter from Tito to Stalin was found in Stalin’s bedside table: “Stop sending people to kill me… If you don’t stop sending killers, I’ll send one to Moscow, and I won’t have to send a second.” By the 1960s he was an influential world leader organizing the non-aligned pact of nations against both NATO and the USSR,
Image source: Zadra-ICP, Wikipedia
#34 Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great
Image source: Murky_Low6667, Wikipedia
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