HONOR, COURAGE, COMMITMENT Lone surviving WWII Marine Medal of Honor recipient shares his story— and much more By Bryan Lett I t was famously noted by former President Ronald Reagan that Marines don’t spend their lives wondering if they’ve made a difference. Nothing could be truer of the time DAV life member and Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams spent in the Marine Corps, or of the decades that followed. On Feb. 23, 1945, Williams and his fellow Marines were two days into their amphibious assault on the Japanese island of Iwo Jima and were experiencing some serious complications overtaking the airfield. Enemy soldiers were holed up in reinforced concrete Retired U.S. Marine Corps Chief Warrant Officer 4 Hershel “Woody” Williams is the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient of the battle of Iwo Jima. (Photo by Lance Cpl. Alexa M. Hernandez/U.S. Marine Corps) During a White House ceremony on Oct. 5, 1945, President Harry Truman congratulates Hershel "Woody" Williams, a Marine reservist, on being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima during World War II. bunkers, known as pillboxes, leaving the Americans as vulnerable as ducks in open water. “Every time we advanced, they beat us back,” said Williams. “That’s when [my commanding officer] asked me if I could use a flamethrower to get rid of some of those pillboxes.” Covered by only four riflemen, Williams daringly went forward alone in an attempt to eliminate the devastating Japanese machine-gun fire. For the next four hours, with a flamethrower tank strapped to his back, while under terrific small-arms fire, he crawled on his belly toward the pillboxes, wiping out one position after another. “I was able to eliminate the enemy in seven bunkers, and that opened the path so we could break through,” said Williams. “Once we got behind them, we had the advantage.” Unfortunately, Williams would not escape the brutality of Iwo Jima unscathed. He would be awarded the Purple Heart for shrapnel injuries sustained to his left leg, but he refused to leave his Marines behind as directed by the attending corpsman. DAV.ORG 18 DAV MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2019
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HONOR, COURAGE, COMMITMENT
Bryan Lett
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