Today, June 29, 2022, the last recipient of the World War II Medal of Honor, Marine Corporal Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams, who received it for his extraordinary bravery during the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he served as a flamethrower with Company C, 1st Marines, died. Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, on 23 February 1945.
This action took place two days after his landing on land, when he used his flamethrower to destroy one bunker after another under Japanese fire. He returned to the rear 5 times to replenish his flamethrower and explosives and continued in this manner for 4 hours. He commented afterwards that he was in a fog and didn't remember the whole thing. On October 5, 1945, along with 13 other members of the armed forces, he received the Medal of Honor from the newly elected President Harry S. Truman.
He remained in the Marine Corps after the war and retired after 33 years with the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4. He served in the Medal of Honor Recipients Association for 35 years as a chaplain.
He died in the family circle at the War Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Huntington at the age of 98 from problems associated with old age.
Thus, there is no one living from World War II who has been awarded this highest decoration for bravery.
Interview as part of the MedalOfHonorBook project, in which many living recipients retold their stories after 2000. An April 26, 2021 interview with Woody Williams where he talks about his life. Woody Williams Funeral.
Woody v roce 1945.
Při přebírání Medaile cti od prezidenta Trumana v Bílém domě, 5. října 1945.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/29-06-2022-USA-zemrel-posledni-nositel-Medaile-cti-ze-2-svetove-valky-Hershel-Woodrow-Williams-t254891#700325
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