Honoring Our World War II Heroes
Take every opportunity to say thank you to our World War II veterans as our time with them draws to a close.
On Wednesday morning, Hershel “Woody” Williams passed away at the age of 98. Williams was the nation’s last living Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, having earned our country’s highest military honor for his heroics and courage during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
According to his New York Times Obituary, “Hershel Woodrow Williams, known as Woody, was born on Oct. 2, 1923, in the tiny community of Quiet Dell, W.Va., the youngest of 11 children of Lloyd and Lurenna Williams. Six of his brothers and sisters had died during the 1918–19 flu pandemic. He helped his parents run their small dairy farm; after his father died of a heart attack when Woody was 11, his brother Lloyd Jr. took over the farm with help from the other children. He later quit high school to join the Depression-era Civilian Conservation Corps, working on projects in Montana.”
Soon after joining the Marines, he saw combat in Guam before entering the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he famously cleared out enemy pillboxes with a flamethrower in the face of machine gun fire as a member of the 21st Marines of the Third Armor Division. He would later be awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry Truman at the White House on October 5, 1945.
The loss of Woody Williams reminds us that our time with America’s Greatest Generation is quickly coming to an end, and we must take every opportunity to not just say “thank you” to the heroes of World War II, but to absorb their wisdom before it is lost.
According to the Department of Veterans Affairs, of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II, less than 239,000 are still alive today. The Florida Department of Veteran Affairs estimated in 2021 that just less than 24,000 World War II veterans remain with us in the Sunshine State.
My grandfather was a Navy veteran of World War II, having served during the Battle of Okinawa. He passed away in December of 2010, but I will never forget the “sea stories” he shared during our final years together. The antics of pranks on Shipmates, the loss of friends from battle, and the beaming pride on his face when I joined the Navy myself and his attendance at my boot camp graduation in 2004, following in his footsteps and continuing his legacy. I soaked up every one of his words, knowing that one day, they would not be spoken or heard ever again.
Take time this week to say thank you to those who fought in the greatest war, and to listen to their stories, apply their wisdom, and burn the images of their faces and sounds of their voices in your mind, for tomorrow, they may be gone forever. They don’t make them like Woody Williams anymore.
