Hershel W. “Woody” Williams, who was the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient before his death on June 29, will lie in the Capitol later this week.
Williams, who died at the age of 98, will rest at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon. His service will be followed by a wreath-laying ceremony at the WWII Memorial on the National Mall.
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The native West Virginian was a member of the U.S. Marine Corps and served in the Battle of Iwo Jima. He was awarded the Medal of Honor on Oct. 5, 1945, from President Harry S. Truman for his actions earlier that year, as he went ahead of his unit and eliminated Japanese machine gun positions.
“For conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as demolition sergeant serving with the 21st Marines, 3d Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Islands, 23 February 1945,” his Medal of Honor citation reads. “Quick to volunteer his services when our tanks were maneuvering vainly to open a lane for the infantry through the network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, buried mines, and black volcanic sands, Cpl. Williams daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machinegun fire from the unyielding positions.”
He spent two decades serving in the Marines and spent another 33 years working for the Veterans Administration.
Prior to his death, he acknowledged his fate as the final living WWII Medal of Honor recipient, saying that he represented those who had fallen.
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“I no longer just represented me,” he said. “I now represented the Marines who protected me, Marines who sacrificed their lives doing that … If I had written that recommendation for the Medal of Honor — which I didn’t, my commanding officer did — I would have never used the word ‘alone.’ I sort of resent that word in my citation. It says, ‘He went forward alone.’ That’s not correct. Four Marines were protecting me, and two of them were killed while they did it. So, I have said from the very beginning that it does not belong to me. It belongs to them.”
The Navy commissioned a sea vessel in his name a couple of years ago, while the Huntington VA medical center was renamed in his honor.
