Veterans Day is a time for remembering heroic deeds, but notevery hero’s deeds are remembered.

When 84-year-old Howard Barfoot, a Franklin County-born veteranof the U.S. Marine Corps in World War II, single-handedly killed 36Japanese attackers, he received no medals or acclaim. But hisdaughter, Joy Arnold, a receptionist at Brookhaven’s Simmons EyeClinic, pulled her father’s story out of the family records forVeterans Day, and she wanted his heroism to be known.

“He didn’t get any kind of recognition for doing this,” Arnoldsaid. “Of course, he doesn’t want any, but in my heart I needed topay him some tribute some way, just to say, ‘I love you and Iappreciate you for what you did.'”

To honor her father on Veterans Day, Arnold produced a 1945dispatch from the U.S. Marine Corps’ Public Relations Sectiondetailing her father’s part in the battle for Iwo Jima, one of thebloodiest and most legendary battles in American history. The shortstory explains how Barfoot, acting alone, killed 36 enemy soldiersthroughout the night and into the following morning simply byfollowing orders.

Barfoot, then 19, was ordered to man a machine gun postoverlooking one of Iwo Jima’s three airfields late one afternoon.He was instructed not to fire his machine gun unless the Japaneseattacked in a banzai raid, a human wave tactic they oftenemployed.

Barfoot’s commanders said prematurely opening fire with theheavy weapon would allow the enemy to probe the defenses and scouta way to counterattack his position.

Following his orders, Barfoot left his machinegun alone, usingonly his rifle and sidearm to beat back multiple attempts by smallteams of Japanese soldiers to overrun his position. The close rangefighting went on throughout the night.

At the break of dawn, the Japanese staged a mass assault onBarfoot’s position. The Marine Corps dispatch describes hisfight:

“It was a signal for Barfoot to revoke the ban on use of themachine gun. He pressed the trigger and sprayed the oncoming horde.The yelling got even louder. Barfoot repeated the lethal operationuntil the onslaught had been repulsed.

“Later when the scene became quiet, as quiet as Iwo Jimaever got, 36 dead and several wounded was the official casualtycount. All victims of Barfoot’s steady aim, fire – andobedience.”

As Arnold said, however, Barfoot wants no praise for hisactions. When contacted at his Monterey, La., home on Veterans Day,the Lucien High School graduate talked more about his fellowMarines than himself.

“I was safe all the way around because I had so many soldiersthere with me,” he said. “We were up in the air, we were down onthe ground, we were everywhere.”

Arnold said her father’s actions on Iwo Jima 64 years ago are aprime example of why Americans are a free people today.

“For everyone who fought in all the ways, we need to show themhow much we appreciate it,” she said. ‘We take that forgranted.”