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CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, the final remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World Conflict II, died Wednesday. He was 98.
Williams’ basis introduced on Twitter and Fb that he died on the Veterans Affairs medical middle bearing his identify in Huntington.
As a younger Marine corporal, Williams went forward of his unit in the course of the Battle of Iwo Jima within the Pacific Ocean in February 1945 and eradicated a sequence of Japanese machine gun positions.
Later that yr, at age 22, Williams obtained the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for navy valor, from President Harry Truman on the White Home.
“For me, receiving the Medal of Honor was truly the lifesaver as a result of it pressured me to speak in regards to the experiences that I had, which was a remedy that I didn’t even know I used to be doing,” Williams stated throughout a 2018 Boy Scouts recognition ceremony in Fairmont, in line with the Occasions West Virginian.
Iwo Jima was the place Marines planted the American flag on Mount Suribachi, a second captured in probably the most iconic conflict images in historical past. Williams stated he noticed the flag from a distance after it went up as troops round him celebrated.
Williams’ actions in battle to clear the way in which for American tanks and infantry had been detailed on the navy’s Medal of Honor web site: He was “fast to volunteer his companies when our tanks had been maneuvering vainly to open a lane for the infantry by means of the community of strengthened concrete pillboxes, buried mines, and black volcanic sands. Williams daringly went ahead alone to try the discount of devastating machinegun hearth from the unyielding positions.”
Dealing with small-arms hearth, Williams fought for 4 hours, repeatedly returning to organize demolition expenses and procure flamethrowers.
“His unyielding willpower and extraordinary heroism within the face of ruthless enemy resistance had been immediately instrumental in neutralizing probably the most fanatically defended Japanese robust factors encountered by his regiment and aided vitally in enabling his firm to succeed in its goal,” the web site stated.
Williams remained within the Marines after the conflict, serving a complete of 20 years, earlier than working for the Veterans Administration for 33 years as a veterans service consultant.
In 2018, the Huntington VA medical middle was renamed in his honor, and the Navy commissioned a cell base sea vessel in his identify in 2020. In February 2018, Williams was joined by 14 different recipients of the Medal of Honor to be honored by the NFL and the nation in the course of the coin toss earlier than the Tremendous Bowl in Minneapolis.
Williams could not have gotten as a lot consideration nationally as Air Drive Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager, the flamboyant World Conflict II fighter pilot ace and West Virginia native who grew to become the primary individual to fly sooner than sound in 1947. Yeager died in December 2020. But in his residence state, Williams was a family identify.
“Woody Williams will go down in historical past as one of many best West Virginians who ever lived, and we salute him for all the things he gave to our state and our nation,” Gov. Jim Justice stated in a press release.
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin stated Williams “was the embodiment of a real American hero. People like Woody answered the decision to serve our nice nation and their sacrifices permit us to benefit from the freedoms we maintain expensive.”
Williams was born the youngest of a household of 11 on a dairy farm on Oct. 2, 1923, within the Harrison County neighborhood of Quiet Dell. Previous to becoming a member of the navy, he served within the Civilian Conservation Corps and labored as a teenage taxi driver in Fairmont, typically delivering Western Union telegrams to the households of fallen troopers.
It was that zeal that later led Williams and his Louisville, Kentucky-based nonprofit basis to boost cash and set up greater than 100 Gold Star Households Memorial Monuments in recognition of family members of misplaced service members throughout the USA, in line with his web site.
When requested his motivation for the inspiration, Williams adopted the motto: “The trigger is larger than I.”
“Woody’s household wish to categorical their honest gratitude for all the love and help,” the inspiration stated in a press release. “They’d additionally wish to share that Woody’s want is that individuals proceed to hold on his mission.”
Though his two older brothers had been serving within the Military, Williams wished to take a distinct path. He knew some Marines from his space and admired their blue uniforms at any time when they returned residence. However at 5-foot-6, Williams was rejected due to his peak when he tried to affix in 1942. A yr later, the Marines allowed him in at age 19.
Williams relied on his fiancée, Ruby, to get him by means of the customarily anxious occasions in the course of the conflict, saying he needed to get again to the lady in Fairmont that he was going to marry.
Their marriage lasted 62 years. Ruby Williams died in 2007 at age 83. The couple had two daughters and 5 grandsons.
Providers might be held at 4 p.m. Sunday on the state Tradition Heart in Charleston. Visitations might be carried out Saturday and earlier than Sunday’s service within the close by Capitol rotunda.
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The spelling of Hershel W. “Woody” Williams’ first identify has been corrected on this story.
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