INTERVIEW
Hershel “Woody” Williams BATTLE OF IWO JIMA MEDAL OF HONOR RECIPIENT
H
ershel “Woody” Williams fought on Guam and Iwo Jima during World War II. On Iwo Jima, his actions during a single day of battle earned him the Medal of Honor, and today he is the last living Marine Corps recipient of the Medal of Honor during World War II. Today, Williams leads the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation, which works to recognize and honor the sacrifices of Gold Star families – those who have lost a loved one in war. The foundation works to build monuments recognizing Gold Star families, conducts outreach to inform the general public of their sacrifices, and also awards educational scholarships to Gold Star family members.
Uncommon Valor: So, when and how did you join the Marine Corps? Hershel “Woody” Williams: I tried to get into the Marine Corps in 1942. I didn’t know anything about war. I didn’t think that I would even leave the United States. I thought I was going to join the Marine Corps to protect my country and keep it from being taken over by people I had never heard of. But when I went to the recruiter and tried to enlist, they turned me down because I was too short. I didn’t meet the height requirement that they had at that time of 5’8”. The recruiter wouldn’t accept my application for enlistment, so I went back to the farm. My father died when I was 11 and my mother was still running it. But in early 1943, they lowered the height requirement, and the recruiter came and looked me up and asked me if I still wanted to go to the Marine Corps. And I said certainly. So, I was able then to enlist. I actually enlisted in February 1943, but they couldn’t take all of us who wanted to get in. In May of ’43, they finally took five of us from our hometown and sent us to California for bootcamp. After bootcamp, I went through infantry training at Camp Pendleton in a replacement unit. They were training us to go overseas to replace those that had been wounded and killed. I took additional training at Camp Pendleton and then shipped overseas and finally joined the 3rd Marine Division on Guadalcanal. So, you went through infantry training. At some point you also went through specialist training for demolitions, correct? That happened in January 1944. I got overseas in December of ’43 on Guadalcanal. And then in January ’44, they came out with the flamethrower. None of us had ever heard tell of it and never seen it, of course. And we began training to be flamethrower operators. And at the same time, they were training us to be demolition people because we had to know both facets of it. If we burned out a pillbox or a cave or put flame in them, then we would use an explosive to seal the cave or to put in the pillbox to make sure that nobody survived. So, they trained us both ways. We could do either one. When did you actually land on Iwo Jima? They tried to get us in on the second day. The other two divisions hit the beach on the 19th of February. They tried to get us in on the 20th of February. We were loaded aboard Higgins boats and went out to a
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PHOTOS COURTESY OF HERSHEL WOODY WILLIAMS MEDAL OF HONOR FOUNDATION
BY CHUCK OLDHAM
