Facing overwhelming dangers, with death looming, the heroes in these pages never gave up; nor did they flee or hide. Instead, in the firestorms of furious battles, their actions earned the nation's highest military decorations for courage. The medals are familiar--the Medal of Honor, Silver and Bronze Stars, Navy Cross, Distinguished Flying Cross, and others. In true stories that reveal the actions that earned these decorations, ONLY THE VALIANT takes its readers into the very heart of battles in land, sea and air when heroes stepped forward. Join a group of daring Union soldiers in the Civil War as they capture a Confederate locomotive and railway; fly with hero ace Eddie Rickenbacker over the battlefields of WW I; hit the beaches with Marines at Tarawa and Iwo Jima; peer through the scopes of U.S. sniper sharpshooters in the mountains of Afghanistan. From the annals of America's earliest battles to those creating headlines today, Editor Lamar Underwood has pulled together the irresistible writings about decorated heroes whose actions deserve eternal attention of a grateful nation.