OMAHA BEACH, France (AP) — A medal well-deserved however lengthy denied to an African American fight medic wounded on Omaha Seashore within the D-Day landings was tenderly laid Friday on the hallowed sands the place he saved lives and shed blood.
U.S. First Army troopers held a ceremony in honor of Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. on the seaside the place he got here ashore and was wounded, and the place tons of of American troopers have been killed by withering fireplace within the June 6, 1944, landings in Normandy, northern France.
The Distinguished Service Cross is the second-highest honor that may be bestowed on a member of the U.S. Army and is awarded for extraordinary heroism.
The medal was awarded posthumously to Woodson this month — simply forward of the eightieth anniversary of D-Day — following years of lobbying for extra recognition of his achievement on that fateful day.
U.S. First Army Maj. Gen. William Ryan gently positioned the World Conflict II-era medal on the sand, near the spot the place Woodson is believed to have come ashore on the now-peaceful seaside that on D-Day was raked by German machine-gun and artillery rounds earlier than U.S. forces lastly captured it and began pushing inland.
The troopers all saluted, nonetheless and quiet below blue skies, when U.S. First Army Command Sgt. Maj. Christopher Prosser gave the order to current arms.
U.S. First Army historian Capt. Kevin Braafladt defined to the troopers that the subsequent step could be the medal’s presentation to Woodson’s widow, 95-year-old Joann. It will likely be given to his household in a ceremony later this summer season.
“We would like to have the ability to say that this medal got here from Omaha Seashore and was on the website of Woodson’s actions,” Braafladt mentioned.
The troopers delicately handed the medal from hand-to-hand, feeling its weight and inspecting it.
The ceremony moved U.S. First Army Workers Sgt. Aaron Williams, who’s Black, to tears.
“Understanding my place as an African American and to study Corporal Woodson and every little thing he skilled right here on Omaha and in Normandy could be very touching to me, and to be right here within the actual spot, it’s simply historic,” Williams mentioned. “It’s very, very touching.”
Woodson was simply 21 years outdated when his First Army unit, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, took half within the Allied operation that helped precipitate Adolf Hitler’s downfall 11 months later.
Woodson’s battalion, the one African American fight unit on Omaha that day, was accountable for establishing high-flying inflatable balloons to forestall enemy planes from buzzing over the seaside and attacking the Allied forces.
At a time when the U.S. army was nonetheless segregated by race, about 2,000 African American troops are believed to have taken half within the D-Day invasion.
Woodson died in 2005, at age 83, and is buried at Arlington Nationwide Cemetery.
His son, 66-year-old Stephen Woodson, fought again tears Friday when The Related Press described the ceremony to him by cellphone.
“I’ve acquired chills,” he mentioned. “My father is receiving loads of consideration that’s lengthy overdue. It’s nearly past phrases for me to explain how necessary that is for my household.”
Waverly Woodson himself spoke to the AP in 1994 about how his touchdown craft got here below intense fireplace from German gunners because it approached the seaside.
”The tide introduced us in, and that’s when the 88s hit us,” he mentioned of the German 88mm weapons. “They have been homicide. Of our 26 Navy personnel there was just one left. They raked the entire high of the ship and killed all of the crew. Then they began with the mortar shells,” Woodson mentioned within the interview.
For the subsequent 30 hours he handled 200 wounded males whereas below intense small arms and artillery fireplace earlier than collapsing from his accidents and blood loss, in response to accounts of his service. On the time he was awarded the Bronze Star.
Though 1.2 million Black Individuals served within the army throughout World Conflict II, none was among the many authentic recipients of the Medal of Honor awarded within the battle.
The Army commissioned a research within the early Nineties to research whether or not Black troops had been unjustly neglected throughout an period of widespread racism and segregation within the army. Finally, seven Black World Conflict II troops have been awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997.
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Related Press author Rebecca Santana in Washington contributed to this report.
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