They Called Him “Useless Farm Boy” — Then He Killed 113 Japanese in 9 Days

Discover the extraordinary true story of how a quiet Pennsylvania farm boy, twice rejected by the draft as too weak and unfit for combat, became one of the deadliest riflemen of World War II during nine unimaginable days on Hill 260 in Leyte, Philippines. On November 15, 1944, Private First Class Leonard Funk and the shattered remnants of Company C, 347th Infantry Regiment found themselves surrounded in torrential rain, seventy-two exhausted Americans facing more than eight hundred Japanese soldiers determined to overrun their position. What followed defied every assumption about warfare, training, and human limits. Drawing on skills forged not in boot camp but in childhood hunting through Depression-era forests, Funk transformed an outdated Springfield rifle into a decisive weapon, methodically dismantling repeated banzai assaults with unmatched speed, precision, and composure. Over nine days of continuous combat, often without sleep, food, or relief, he fired with devastating efficiency, stopping entire platoons alone, shattering enemy morale, and ultimately accounting for 113 confirmed enemy kills—an individual combat performance so extreme that Army headquarters initially doubted the reports. Based on after-action records, eyewitness testimony, medical evaluations, and personal letters, this documentary explores how farm-learned marksmanship, psychological resilience, and tactical circumstance converged to change the outcome of a battle, save countless American lives, and leave a lasting human cost carried long after the gunfire stopped. This is not just a story of battlefield lethality, but of the hidden price of survival, the burden of extraordinary skill, and how an underestimated farm boy proved everyone wrong—then returned home in silence.