Alexei Ananenko, Valeriy Bezpalov and Boris Baranov volunteered to wade into the flooded, radioactive basement of Chernobyl’s reactor 4 to open the drainage valves.
If the melting core had reached that water, the steam explosion would have devastated half of Europe. They went in knowing the dose they’d take.
Against the legend, they were not a suicide squad who died within days: they knew the building, did the job, and two of them were still alive decades later to receive their medals.
For once, reality beats the legend.