An American hero died this week. He left behind an indelible mark, as it is with heroes.
Hershel was born on October 2, 1923. He was his parents’ 11th child.
Nearly twenty years later, the Quiet Dell youth from West Virginia dreamed about fighting for his country. With a world at war, Hershel — known as “Woody” — attempted to join America’s military effort. At only 5’6″, he was refused entry.
By 1943, the war’s demands had grown; an Armed Forces in need had relaxed its rules. Woody made it into the Marines, where he honed an unusual skill: As he once explained to WSAZ, he was “the guy who was trained to do the flamethrower.”
On February 23rd 1945, this training could prove to be very helpful.
But training, of course, is one thing; a man’s mettle is quite another.
Woody, it turns out was made from steel.
He and the 21st Marines’ 3d Marine Division came under heavy machine gun fire during the Battle of Iwo Jima. As depicted by the New York Post, armed with explosives and his flamethrower, Woody cleared “seven concrete bunkers known as pillboxes.”
As all of the men in Williams’ company perished, he kept pushing forward — at one point shoving a flamethrower nozzle into one of the small concrete boxes and killing the enemies inside.
After refueling his weapon, he boldly returned five additional times to demolish the remaining pillboxes.
Woody received the Medal of Honor for his unfailing bravery.
His service was not over. Woody worked as a Veterans Service Representative in the Department of Veterans Affairs over 33 years.
He also served nearly a decade as the Commandant of Veterans Nursing Home in Barboursville West Virginia.
He also sat on the Governor’s Military Advisory Board of his home state.
The Hill lists a number of other achievements and honors.
Williams was also honored with the Distinguished West Virginian Award in 1980, and 2013 and is a member of West Virginia Hall of Fame. The Huntington VA Medical Center was also renamed the Hershel “Woody” Williams VA Medical Center in his honor in 2018.
Williams founded the Woody Williams Foundation, which is a non-profit organization…for Gold Star Families.
In March 2020, the U.S. Navy commissioned a warship, the USS Hershel “Woody” Williams, in his honor in Norfolk, Virginia.
The man, despite his incredible courage and strength under fire from his superiors, downplayed the extraordinary feat. He said that he didn’t remember much about the fateful day.
“It was just another day of battle, as far as I was concerned.”
Woodys are in short supply around the globe.
We are losing a generation of treasures, at a time when we need them most — and while they’re increasingly looked upon as unnecessary. Contemporarily, each American is his own treasure; one’s pride emanates from one’s identity, as we enshrine ourselves online. However, in the past what was most loved was virtue and what was treasured was sacrifice. What was consecrated was character. And the greatest love wasn’t that of self, but of others.
True bravery can only be born of love.
It’s a love to which we must return — a love for our fellow Americans.
It’s there, for all to see, across the history of World War II. It was the Greatest Generation.
Earlier this month, a sunken destroyer escort — the USS Samuel B. Roberts I — was discovered in the Philippine Sea. It, too, resides in legend.
From NBC News
Despite being outgunned, the Sammy B attacked a fleet of imperial Japanese navy ships led by the Yamato, the largest battleship ever constructed, before sinking under fire in the Philippine Sea, earning it a description as “the destroyer escort that fought like a battleship.” Among its 224 crew members, 89 were killed.
This was a generation who knew the dangers of their time, yet were willing to take real risks for what once held on but is now being progressively lost. Our elders faced the terrors of their time in ways and for reasons that provide a path — back to a nation again worth fighting for.
The present leaders of our country are foolish and leading us to a dangerous future. Let us look back to the past and seek wiser advice.
On Wednesday, The Woody Williams Foundation released a statement:
At 3:15 AM today, Hershel Woodrow Wilkins, fondly called Woody, went home to the Lord. Woody, surrounded with his loved one Ruby at the VA Medical Center that bears his name, peacefully went home to be with his husband.
“Woody’s family would like to express their sincere gratitude for all of the love and support,” it said. “They would also like to share that Woody’s wish is that people continue to carry on his mission.”
This is how the Foundation defines their mission:
We are…focused on the mission of honoring, recognizing, and serving Gold Star Families and the legacy of their Loved Ones who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. “The Cause is Greater than I…” -Woody Williams
“Great Than I” — words seldom any longer heard.
At 98, Hershel “Woody” Williams was the last living WWII Medal of Honor recipient.
-ALEX
You can find more of my content here:
Hero of Our Past: The Expedition Finds Long-Lost WWII Ship Sunk by Imperial Japanese Navy
Dolly Parton Turns Down Another Honor, and It’s a Monument to What the World Desperately Needs
September 11, 2001: Not only tragedy, but something greater
Check out all of my RedState work Click here.
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This post was last modified on June 30, 2022 9:06 am
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