Heroic self-sacrifice.(The Goodness Of America)

Pursuant to legislation approved by Congress and signed by President Bush last year, Salt Lake City's VA hospital was renamed the George E. Wahlen Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center during a brief ceremony on January 8. How Wahlen came to merit this honor--and more--is a story of bravery, loyalty and self-sacrifice.

George Edward Wahlen, 79, was a Navy Pharmacist's Mate Second Class during World War II. As a 20-year-old medic assigned to Company F, 2nd Battalion, 26th Regiment, 5th Marine Division, he was part of the initial invasion of Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945.

One week later, Wahlen's company advanced to a hill where it faced a barrage of enemy machine-gun fire. "We were called back, but I heard two guys had been hit on the right flank, so I crawled over to them," he recalled for the January 9 Salt Lake Tribune. Both Marines were dead, so Wahlen moved toward the left flank to help other wounded Marines, but was blocked by a Japanese grenade position some 30 yards away. "I saw where the grenades were coming from," he told the Tribune, so he took a grenade from another Marine, crawled to the Japanese position, and "terminate[d] the threat" by dropping the grenade on its occupants.

As Wahlen resumed crawling to help the wounded Marines, a grenade exploded nearby, hurling shrapnel fragments into his right eye and knocking him out. When he regained consciousness moments later, he bandaged his eye and helped a badly wounded Marine off the hill. Upon learning that another platoon had taken casualties, Wahlen volunteered to assist them. Altogether, he helped rescue 14 wounded comrades that day.

On March 2, while trying to move yet another wounded ...