close to the wartorn beaches of Normandy,  France. The Germans are throwing everything  

they've got at the Americans. It's chaos, and in  the melee a soldier carrying a bazooka goes down.  

Urban, who's no stranger to being on the  losing end of a battle, picks up the bazooka  

and walks towards the advancing German tanks. His  men can only look on in awe as they watch him walk  

through the smoke towards those giant machines.  He takes two of them out, but is soon hit in the  

leg by shrapnel. Unfazed, he directs orders from  a stretcher, moving his men towards the action.  

His motto: You never turn away from a fight. He would do this kind of thing time and again,  

walk right into the line of fire, his gun blazing,  his own blood staining his military fatigues.  

He suffered tremendously for his bravery,  but he almost single-handedly won battles,  

and he saved countless soldiers' lives. Urban was possibly one of the most  

courageous soldiers the U.S. has ever  produced. He wasn't only insanely valiant,  

he was also a brilliant tactician. He could have died; he should have died  

on numerous occasions, but there's a reason he got  the nickname “The Ghost.” He was unstoppable and  

he could seemingly defy death. Time and again  he took out the enemy and somehow evaded being  

killed himself. That's why he became one of the  most decorated American soldiers of all time:  

The Medal of Honor. Seven Purple Hearts. Silver  Stars. The French Croix de Guerre. The American  

Campaign Medal, and others. This is his story. 

Born on August 25, 1919, Urban was brought  up on the tough streets of Buffalo,  

New York. His family were regular blue-collar  workers. There wasn't much cash to go around,  

but coming from a humble background no doubt  set this person up to become the man he became. 

In high school he succeeded in most sports  and was a very proficient boxer. In 1937,  

he enrolled at Cornell University to study  history. While there he joined the Reserve  

Officers Training Corps, competing in  its athletics and boxing competitions. 

His life was about to change forever. The world  was about to change forever. War was on its way. 

November 8, 1942. Urban finds himself under fire  for the first time in his life. He's part of  

what's called the invasion of North Africa. He's  fighting at the Battle of Port Lyautey in French  

Morocco when something happens to Urban that will  shape him into the fearless soldier he'll become. 

It's a vicious fight, with both sides seeing many  casualties. Some of the American landing boats  

don't even make it to the port. At one point Urban  finds himself in the middle of the battle, guns  

blazing all around him, smoke filling the air.  Suddenly he's standing in the midst of the chaos,  

holding the decapitated head of a comrade. He  would later say that it was the shock he felt at  

that moment that motivated him to become a hero.  The battle is won, and Urban is sent to Tunisia. 

There he captures a German communications post  almost by himself. He leads his men against the  

German army in the Battle of Kasserine Pass.  His battalion holds off a German counterattack,  

and Urban is fierce as always. During  the fight his men are on the back foot,  

but Urban holds his ground. At one point he  grabs a German soldier and kills him with a  

trench knife. He then takes the dead man's pistol  and rushes towards the Germans firing at him. 

All this doesn't come without injuries. Urban  suffers seven different injuries from shrapnel,  

but of course he refuses to go back  to the U.S. to receive treatment.  

For his bravery he later gets two Silver Stars,  a Bronze Star, and with two Purple Hearts. 

This is just the beginning of this  man's death-defying actions in the army. 

He's then sent to Sicily where he's given an  order to take his unit across a mountainous trail  

so they can outflank German troops. 4,000 troops  with their mules make the hazardous journey  

and they mount a surprise attack on the  Germans. The enemy has no choice but to retreat.  

Sicily is soon liberated and Urban can add  another Silver Star to his growing collection. 

Now we come to France and the beaches  of Normandy. This is when Urban takes  

that bazooka and blasts two German tanks,  saving many lives on the side of the Allies. 

Just a day later, Urban is hit by shrapnel. This  time it's more serious. His men try to convince  

him to get help, but as always, the stubborn Urban  says he can go on. 'tis but a scratch, he may or  

may not have told his men, but it doesn't matter  anyway because he's hit again not long after.  

This time it's even more serious and Urban has no  choice but to go to England and receive treatment. 

So, there he is, lying in a hospital bed in  England when he gets word that his men are not  

faring too well in Normandy. What should happen  is Urban follows orders and returns to the U.S.  

His leg is in a really bad way. It gives him  constant pain, and he can't walk without a cane. 

This doesn't stop him. He gets forty guys  together and they board a troop carrier and  

return to France. Once there he hitchhikes to Utah  Beach where his battalion is. When he arrives,  

he finds his men in a difficult position. They're  taking heavy fire and are basically pinned down. 

It's now time for more heroics. Urban is informed that a U.S tank still  

has its driver in it. Two soldiers have already  been killed by the Germans after trying to get  

to the turret and the 50-caliber machine gun.  Under heavy fire, Urban crawls through the mud,  

making his way to the tank. Where others have  failed, he succeeds. He gains control of the  

tank and orders the driver to head towards the  Germans. Under fire from anti-tank artillery,  

Urban and the driver keep pressing ahead. Those who witness this can't believe their eyes.  

Here is a man that can hardly walk. A man that  should be in a hospital bed, and he's blasting  

his way through German forces like he's both  invisible and invincible. This guy is half-crazy,  

say some men, it's as if he has no fear. It's  then that they give him the name, “The Ghost.” 

The Ghost isn't done yet. He's just starting. After reaching enemy lines in his tank,  

Urban's men gain confidence. They pick up their  guns and run toward the Germans. What ensues  

is a fight for life, hand-to-hand combat and  bayonet fighting between U.S. and German troops.  

Buoyed by the brutal strength of their commander,  the American troops overwhelm the Germans.  

The white flag is held up. The enemy is defeated. All this is being watched from a distance.  

Second Battalion Commander Max L. Wolf has  been standing at a far-off command post  

watching the fight through his binoculars.  He can't believe what he's just witnessed.  

One man has pretty much led his men to victory in  a battle they looked certain to lose. Wolf soon  

recommends Urban for the Medal of Honor, not just  for showing incredible bravery, but for saving the  

lives of a battalion that looked sure to die. This is what was later written about Urban's  

actions, and why he was recommended for the Medal: “Urban moved forward, and damned if the U.S. Army  

didn't move forward also. He bellied up to the  tank and amid heavy gunfire scrambled aboard and  

manned the machine gun. The driver took heart  with Urban aboard. The tank roared forward,  

and Urban tore the hillside apart with that  gun. The men, once again with 'Urban-itis'  

scrambled up the rise and gained the objective.” So, does Urban return home, collect his medal and  

bask in the warmth of his country's appreciation? Hell no, he fights on,  

even with a seriously damaged leg. Around a week later, he gets injured again,  

this time by a shell fragment that  just misses his heart. Does he return  

home when asked? You know the answer to that. His admirer, Wolf, is taken out by the Germans,  

so the 24-year old Urban assumes command  of the 2nd battalion. Believe it or not,  

he gets wounded yet again by shrapnel, but  he manages to stay with his unit. That unit  

receives the French Croix de Guerre, and now it's  time for Urban to raise hell over in Belgium. 

This is where he really should  die…God knows how he didn't. 

He's fighting against the Germans with his  battalion in a place called Philippeville.  

There they've discovered a fairly large,  well-equipped German unit. When Urban and his men  

finally get the aircraft cover they've requested,  they advance towards the German troops. Not one to  

shy away from a fight, Urban runs at the Germans.  His objective is to take out a machine gun nest,  

but to do that, he has to get close. Armed with  two grenades he runs towards the emplacement.  

His men watch in wonder, and then in horror,  as their commander takes a bullet to the neck. 

Urban is now lying on the floor, trying to  staunch a river of blood seeping from his neck.  

The unused grenades lie at his  side. His life force diminishes. 

Luckily for him, some of his men manage to  drag him through the mud and take him to  

a place of safety. There they patch him up as  best they can as bullets rain over their heads. 

A doctor arrives at the scene. He administers  blood to Urban and performs a tracheotomy so  

he can breathe. Until then, Urban was gurgling  blood, looking like his days were numbered. He's  

in such a bad way that when the chaplain arrives,  he's read his last rites. The doctor approves,  

saying this man has seen his last fight. But we are talking about a man called The Ghost.  

Ghosts don't die easily. Urban knocks on death's door a  

few times during his recovery, but in hospital in  France he gets over the worst of it. In England,  

he receives more treatment and a man that  looked as good as dead comes back to life. 

And no, he doesn't go home to the U.S. You should  know that by now. Instead, he gets the green light  

in Scotland to go back to his battalion. His  men are over the moon to see him because no  

one thought he could have survived that neck  wound. It's as if they are looking at a ghost. 

There is a slight problem when it comes to leading  his men. He can't actually speak. He asks the  

higher ups if he can take a combat assignment and  if he can do that using writing, not speaking.  

This is a bridge too far for his Infantry Regiment  commander. He's told he can stay with his men for  

a while, but no more big fights. It's time to  hang up your gloves, the commander tells him. 

Urban retired from the military in  1947 to concentrate on sports coaching,  

especially boxing. He trained a bunch of young  men and helped them to become national Golden  

Gloves Champions. He even trained Cassius Clay for  a while, the man that would become Muhammad Ali,  

possibly the greatest fighter that ever lived.  Urban could talk in those days, but his damaged  

vocal chords gave him quite a raspy voice. The Ghost died in 1995, aged 75. The cause  

of death was a collapsed lung, a consequence  of the injuries he'd received in the war. 

Now you need to watch, “The Insanely  Crazy Story of a Tiny Soldier.” Or,  

“Bazooka Charlie - Pilot Who  Attached A Bazooka To Plane.”