WASHINGTON (AP) — Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, the final remaining Medal of Honor recipient from World Warfare II, will lie in honor on the U.S. Capitol, Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Chief Chuck Schumer mentioned Sunday.
A date and different particulars will probably be introduced later, Pelosi and Schumer mentioned in a joint assertion.
“Woody Williams embodied the very best of America: residing a lifetime of responsibility, honor and braveness,” Pelosi mentioned. Schumer mentioned: “Woody Williams was an American hero who embodied the very best of our nation and the best technology.”
Williams, who died on Wednesday at 98, was a legend in his native West Virginia for his heroics underneath fireplace over a number of essential hours on the battle for Iwo Jima. As a younger Marine corporal, Williams went forward of his unit in February 1945 and eradicated a collection of Japanese machine gun positions. Going through small-arms fireplace, Williams fought for 4 hours, repeatedly returning to arrange demolition fees and acquire flamethrowers.
Later that 12 months, the 22-year-old Williams obtained the Medal of Honor from President Harry Truman. The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest award for army valor.
In remarks at a memorial Sunday in Charleston, West Virginia, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin mentioned Williams “by no means give up giving again.” That included elevating cash for gold star households — speedy members of the family of fallen service members — with an annual motorbike journey.
“It’s raised a whole bunch of 1000’s of {dollars},” Manchin mentioned. He joked that “it’s not going to be stopping, as a result of Woody would come after me in a heartbeat.”
Manchin, a West Virginia Democrat, mentioned he’ll miss Williams’ cellphone calls, noting how Williams would all the time give him instructions and to-do lists.
“I’ll miss him telling me how I’m imagined to vote. And once I didn’t, how I made a mistake,” Manchin mentioned.
Gen. David H. Berger, commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, mentioned on the memorial that Williams all the time took exception to the notion that he completed that feat alone. He all the time acknowledged the opposite males on his crew, a few of whom by no means returned residence.
“Woody would be the most real particular person I ever met,” Berger mentioned, noting his distinctive mixture of humility and humor. “He might make you chuckle. He might make you care. That was his reward.”
Williams remained within the Marines after the battle, 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 heart was renamed in his honor, and the Navy commissioned a cell base sea vessel in his title in 2020.
“He left an indelible mark on our Marine Corps,” Berger mentioned. “So long as there are Marines, his legacy will dwell on.”
Manchin introduced throughout his remarks that Williams would lie in state on the Rotunda, however Pelosi and Schumer mentioned he would lie in honor. The excellence, in line with the Architect of the Capitol, which oversees the constructing, is that authorities officers and army officers lie in state whereas personal residents lie in honor.
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