Why Technical Sergeant Russell Dunham wore a white mattress cover and carried 72 pounds of ammunition against three German machine gun nests during WW2 — and saved 120 pinned American soldiers. This World War 2 story reveals how improvised camouflage and refusing to retreat with a 10-inch wound changed one deadly assault.<br /><br />January 8, 1945. Technical Sergeant Russell Dunham, 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division, crouched at the base of Hill 616 near Kaysersberg, France. His platoon was trapped between German machine guns and artillery fire. Dunham tore open a white mattress cover, draped it over his uniform, and loaded himself with 12 carbine magazines and a dozen grenades. Every training manual said a lone soldier couldn't assault fortified positions. His commanders called it suicide.<br /><br />They were all wrong.<br /><br />What Dunham discovered crawling up that snow-covered slope wasn't about following doctrine. It was about improvisation and refusing to stop even after a rifle bullet carved a 10-inch gash across his back. When a German grenade landed beside him, he kicked it away and kept fighting. By the end of the assault, other soldiers from Company I witnessed something impossible —
