Saw this last night. Quite a story. Lummus, a Medal of Honor recipient, was a great athlete from Texas in the 1930s. Played 9 games for Giants as an end in 1941.
Lummus starts as an end for the Giants in the 1941 Championship Game against Bears then writes Jack Mara a letter saying that he is leaving football to join the Marines. Lummus was in the first wave of troops to land at Iwo Jima on February 19, 1945. He and his platoon spent the next two weeks fighting the Japanese. Despite minor wounds received from grenade shrapnel, Lummus knocked out three enemy strongholds. Following this action, he stepped on a land mine and was mortally wounded, losing his legs. While lying on the ground, he urged his platoon on, until he was carried off to an aid station.
His last words at the field hospital reportedly were: "Well, doc, the New York Giants lost a mighty good end today." Just an amazing, heroic story.
Now there's a Giant Among Men.
