Lieutenant Mike Thornton received the Medal of Honor for combat during the Vietnam War. On October 31,1972, Thornton was part of a five-man Navy SEAL patrol that was gathering intelligence near the Cua Viet River Base. However, they had been dropped in the wrong place—inside North Vietnam. After they'd scouted the area, a seven-hour firefight erupted during which Thornton was wounded by a hand grenade. When he learned that his squad leader, Lieutenant Thomas R. Norris, was dead, Thornton returned 500 yards through a hail of gunfire to retrieve the body. Thornton killed two enemy soldiers who were hovering over Norris—who was, in fact, still alive. He carried the wounded and unconscious lieutenant back to the ocean, saved another wounded squad mate, and towed both for two hours until they were rescued. A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Thornton resides in Montgomery, Texas.