Hershel W. Williams

Williams died at the Hershel "Woody" Williams Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Huntington, West Virginia, on June 29, 2022, at the age of 98. He was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. On July 14, 2022 Williams' remains lay in honor at the U.S. Capitol Rotunda.

On February 4, 2018, Williams along with 14 other living Medal of Honor recipients was honored at the Super Bowl LII during the coin toss. Williams was selected to do the official coin toss for the game. The coin toss ceremony set a record for most coin toss participants as Super Bowl LII was dedicated to them.

In 2010, the not-for-profit Hershel Woody Williams Congressional Medal of Honor Education Foundation, Inc. was established "to honor Gold Star Families, relatives, and Gold Star Children who have sacrificed a loved one in the service of their country." Williams served on the foundation's Founders Advisory Board.

The West Virginia state legislature has included Williams in the Hall of Fame for the state named him a Distinguished West Virginian in 1980 and in 2013. He is on the “Wall of Fame” in the Civic Center in the city of Huntington, West Virginia, nominated and selected by the former recipients who received this honor. In his hometown of Fairmont, West Virginia, the 32 million dollar Hershel “Woody” Williams Armed Forces Reserve Center is the only National Guard facility in the country named after a Marine.

He was advanced through the warrant officer ranks during his time in the Marine Corps Reserve until reaching his final rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4. Although Williams technically did not meet retirement requirements, he was honorarily retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1969 after approximately 17 years of service.

In 1965, Williams received West Virginia's Distinguished Service Medal. In 1967, he was honored by the Veteran's Administration with the Civilian Vietnam Service Award for service as a civilian counselor to the armed forces. In 1999, he was added to the City of Huntington Foundation's "Wall of Fame". He received the 2014 Founder's Award for extraordinary contributions to the mission of the Pritzker Military Museum & Library and the preservation of the heritage of the Citizen Soldier.

Williams was a member of The American Legion, Congressional Medal of Honor Society, Marine Corps League, and Sons of the American Revolution. His medal of honor is on display at the Pritzker Military Museum & Library in Chicago. For years, Williams struggled with post-traumatic stress until 1962, when he experienced a religious renewal. In a 2020 Washington Post interview remembering the 75th anniversary of the Iwo Jima battle, he credited his religious awakening with ending his nightmares and transforming his life.

On October 20, 1954, he joined the Organized Marine Reserve when the 98th Special Infantry Company was authorized by Headquarters Marine Corps to be located at Clarksburg, West Virginia. He transferred to the Marine Corps Reserve's 25th Infantry Company in Huntington, West Virginia, on June 9, 1957, later becoming the (Interim) Commanding Officer of that unit as a warrant officer on June 6, 1960. He was designated the Mobilization Officer for the 25th Infantry Company and surrounding Huntington area on June 11, 1963.

In March 1948, he reenlisted in the inactive Marine Corps Reserve, but was again discharged on August 4, 1949.

Williams' next and final campaign was at the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he distinguished himself with actions "above and beyond the call of duty", for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. On February 21, 1945, he landed on the beach with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines. Williams, by then a corporal, distinguished himself two days later when American tanks, trying to open a lane for the infantry, encountered a network of reinforced concrete pillboxes.

In September 1945, he returned to the United States, and on October 1 he joined Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He and thirteen other servicemen were presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman on October 5, 1945, at the White House.

On October 22, 1945, he was transferred to the Marine Barracks, Naval Training Center Bainbridge, Maryland, for discharge. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on November 6, 1945.

Williams received his recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. Upon completion, he was sent to the Camp Elliott training center in San Diego, where he joined the tank training battalion on August 21, 1943. The following month he was transferred to the training center's infantry battalion for instruction as a demolition man and in the use of flamethrowers. The training, Williams said, was technical and focused on the flamethrower's design: three tanks, two of which held a mix of diesel fuel and aviation gas, and a third tank that held compressed air. There was little training on the operational use of the weapon. "We had to learn that ourselves", he said.

Williams was assigned to the 32nd Replacement Battalion on October 30, 1943, and left for New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific on December 3 aboard the M.S. Weltey Reden. In January 1944, he joined Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division at Guadalcanal. In July and August 1944, he was attached to Headquarters Company and participated in action against the Japanese during the Battle of Guam. In October, he rejoined Company C.

Williams was drawn to the Marines by their dress blue uniforms he had seen several men in his community wear. He disliked the Army's brown wool uniform he considered "... the ugliest thing in town ... I decided I did not want to be in that thing. I want to be in those dress blues." Aside from the appearance of the uniform, Williams knew nothing of the Marines. Standing 5-foot-6, when Williams tried to enlist in the Marine Corps in 1942, he was told he was too short for service. After the height regulations were changed in early 1943, he successfully enlisted in the United States Marine Corps Reserve in Charleston, West Virginia, on May 26.

Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams (October 2, 1923 – June 29, 2022) was a United States Marine Corps Reserve warrant officer and United States Department of Veterans Affairs veterans service representative who received the Medal of Honor, the United States military's highest decoration for valor, for heroism above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. Williams was the last living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II.

Williams, the youngest of eleven children, was born in Quiet Dell in Marion County, West Virginia, southeast of Fairmont, on October 2, 1923, and raised on a dairy farm in the area. At birth, Williams weighed .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser-output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line-height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical-align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height:1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3+1⁄2 pounds and was not expected to live. His mother, Lurenna, decided to name him after the doctor who arrived at their farm several days after his birth. By the time he was 11, his father, Lloyd, had died of a heart attack and several of his siblings had died due to the Spanish flu.