Ever poetic, author Ernest Hemmingway stayed true to form when he responded to a Red Cross recruitment drive during World War I. He became an ambulance driver on the Italian Front and was thrust into the horrors of war almost immediately. On his first day, an explosion in a factory saw him pulling dead bodies from the rubble. He was also wounded badly from mortar fire, but acted with courage, helping Italian soldiers escape. For this he was awarded the Italian Silver Medal of Bravery.
Hemmingway spent six months in a Milan hospital recovering from his shrapnel wounds. He even managed to fall in love with a Red Cross nurse during this time. Of course, this being Ernest Hemmingway, he ended up writing about his experiences during and immediately after the war in several of his books.