I had the privilege to meet Woody Williams, who now is 96 at the Mid Atlantic World War II Air show in Reading a few years ago. Woody received the Medal of Honor for his gallant actions of extreme bravery above and beyond the call of duty on Iwo Jima and is the last Medal of Honor survivor from Iwo Jima. I'll tell you what Woody Williams did to receive the Medal of Honor in an excerpt below. Woody said he was just a farmer from West Virginia who did what... "any man" would do when called upon. I know Woody wasn't just any man and every man, child or woman alive today should be proud and thankful that men like Woody Williams fought for our right to live free. That day taught me the love one could have for his country and for his fellow human beings. I can say, my admiration grew to love for this man who took so many minutes to talk to this man about how common and undistinquished he was.
Woody fought at Guandalcanel and Guam. Williams' next and final campaign was at the
Battle of Iwo Jima, where he distinguished himself with actions "above and beyond the call of duty" – for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. On February 21, 1945, he landed on the beach with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines. Williams, by then a
corporal, distinguished himself two days later when American tanks, trying to open a lane for infantry, encountered a network of reinforced concrete
pillboxes. Pinned down by machine gun fire, his company commander asked one of his men to attach a high explosive charge to a pole and with the support of Williams and his flamethrower and several Marine riflemen, shove the improvised weapon into an opening in the enemy's pillbox. As they fought their way to the pillbox, all of the men, except Williams, became casualties. Undeterred, Williams arrived at the first pillbox, shoved the flamethrower nozzle into the pillbox opening and fired the weapon, killing all of the soldiers inside. He then returned five times to his company area, refueled his weapon, and moved forward to destroy the remaining pillboxes.
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Harry Truman congratulates Hershel Williams on being awarded the Medal of Honor, October 5, 1945. Covered by only four riflemen, he fought for four hours under terrific enemy
small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain serviced flame throwers. He returned to the front, frequently to the rear of hostile emplacements, to wipe out one position after another. At one point, a wisp of smoke alerted him to the air vent of a Japanese bunker, and he approached close enough to put the nozzle of his flamethrower through the hole, killing the occupants. On another occasion, he was charged by enemy riflemen who attempted to stop him with
bayonets and he killed them with a burst of flame from his weapon.
These actions occurred on the same day that
two flags were raised on
Mount Suribachi, and Williams, about one thousand yards away from the volcano, was able to witness the event. He fought through the remainder of the five-week-long battle even though he was wounded on March 6 in the leg by shrapnel, for which he was awarded the
Purple Heart.
Please listen to Woody talking about his experience on Iwo Jima: Starting at the 28:00 min mark. Woody lost his best friend on Iwo Jima, Vernon Walters and when recounting the lost to me... I had to hide the tears streaming down my face, by hiding behind a group of people to wipe them away. You could tell 70 plus years later, the lost never was lost on Woody. Woody is a national treasure and please treat him and all men who serve or served as one.
Video of Woody talking about his experience on Iwo Jima:
https://www.c-span.org/video/?469603-1/remembering-battle-iwo-jima