Hershel Woodrow “Woody” Williams, the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, has died at the age of 98 years old.
Mrs. Bradley, Woody and 2007 John Bradley Scholarship of Honor recipient, Luke Justman.
We met Woody during the 2007 Congressional Medal of Honor convention in Green Bay, WI. Beyond his battlefield heroics, he was a kind and gentle soul.
That same year, he took part in the 1st annual John Bradley Scholarship of Honor presentation at Appleton West with Mrs. Bradley and scholarship sponsors, Ron and Colleen Weyers.
It was a special time for the school, its students and the Bradley family.
Woody earned his Congressional Medal of Honor during the Battle of Iwo Jima for displaying "valiant devotion to duty." It was presented to him by President Harry Truman in a ceremony at the White House on October 5, 1945.
Born on a dairy farm in Quiet Dell, West Virginia, in 1923, Williams served 20 years in the Marine Corps and Marine Corps Reserves. In the early days of World War II, Woody delivered telegrams informing Gold Star families that their loved one had died, an experience Woody said helped him appreciate life and better understand the "difference in death in the normal world as expected in life, and those lost serving in the military for their country."
After the war, Woody worked for 33 years in the Department of Veterans Affairs. He also created the Woody Williams Foundation to support and advocate on behalf of Gold Star Families after his time as a Marine.
Woody with scholarship sponsors, Colleen and Ron Weyers
