The folks who have served in America’s military have done many great things for this country -- and some unbelievable things, as well.
Take Matthew Little, a Seaman for 70 years who served in four wars, including World Wars I and II.
Not only was his ship was sunk by a German U-boat in WWI, he was sunk twice in WWII and spent 5 days in a lifeboat.
Then he was in charge of a ferry that rescued 1,200 men at Dunkirk, only to be sunk for the fourth time.
He survived all of those life-threatening wartime experiences -- only to be hit by a truck in Baltimore.
Little not only garnered plenty of medals for his service, his unbelievably bizarre war experiences have earned him a place at Ripley’s Believe It Or Not!
For more than 200 years, the members of the U.S. military have been protecting the country and, for some 90 of those years, Ripley’s has been recognizing their actions and publicizing the quirkier stories, according to spokesman Tim O’Brien.
"Throughout the 1920s and '30s, Robert Ripley always saluted the military," O’Brien said. "He was very patriotic and traveled to several foreign countries looking for the odd. But he never missed an opportunity to point out the odd things that happened to our military men.
"He brought out the odd and unusual happenings of the military that didn’t make the mainstream press and we want to carry on that tradition."
Some of the stranger stories that deserve to be retold on Memorial Day:
- In 1943, Master Sgt. John Hassebrock of Buffalo Center, Iowa, received a three-day pass to marry a WAC Corporal before he went overseas. They lost track of each other until one night in France, he made a convoy to the front lines and went to a farmhouse to spend the night. There he unexpectedly ran into his wife -- on the exact day and hour of their wedding one year earlier.
Ripley’s is putting its money where its military support counts by offering discounts to military families at the company's "Odditoriums" … believe it or not!