21Adrian Carton de Wiart
Adrian Carton de Wiart was a veteran of 4 wars. He was shot in the stomach, groin, head, hand, ankle, hip, and leg. He once chewed off a few of his own fingers, survived two plane crashes, and lost an eye all during the wars he fought.
22John Stith Pemberton
The inventor of Coca-Cola, John Stith Pemberton was a Civil War veteran who became addicted to morphine due to pain from a saber wound to the chest. Seeking alternatives to his morphine use, he developed the original formula for Coca-Cola with the use of the coca plant for pain relief.
23Thomas Fitzpatrick
American pilot Thomas Fitzpatrick was a World War 2 and Korean War veteran who once stole a plane and landed it at 3 am in front of a bar in New York City while being intoxicated. About two years later, he did it again because a bar patron didn't believe him (again being intoxicated).
24Don Ritchie
An Australian war veteran named Don Ritchie stopped over 160 people from killing themselves at a popular suicide spot by talking to them and offering them tea or breakfast at his home nearby.
25Cadillac Draw
In 1947, the Kiwanis Club of Ahoskie in North Carolina held a drawing for a New Cadillac. When a Black Navy Veteran won, they announced there had been a mistake, refunded the winner the $1 price of his ticket, and drew again for a white winner.
26Dewey Beard
Dewey Beard was the last Native American veteran of the 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn. In 1892, his family was killed by the US Army at the Wounded Knee Massacre, and he was shot. In 1942, the Department of War confiscated his land to form a firing range. He died in poverty in 1955.
27Susan Travers
Susan Travers, a World War 2 and Indochina War veteran, is the only woman to have been formally enrolled in the French Foreign Legion.
