Profiles in Courage: Hershel “Woody” Williams Explains the Qualities of a Good Marine

Medal of Honor recipient Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams discusses the Battle of Iwo Jima’s impact on his life and the sacrifice of his fellow Marines.

To Hershel “Woody” Williams, the Medal of Honor he wears around his neck does not belong to him. It’s not because he isn’t worthy of it, he undoubtedly is. For Williams, the medal belongs to the men who never made it home.

On Feb. 23, 1945, Williams was a 21-year-old Marine corporal fighting in Battle of Iwo Jima, one of the most brutal and unforgiving battles in American military history. The fighting was horrific, and the events of that day have stayed with Williams for the last 71 years.

On the small and heavily fortified volcanic island, Williams repeatedly assaulted enemy positions armed with a flamethrower and demolition charges in order to clear the way for the remains who remained pinned down under the brutal enemy onslaught.

Over the course of four hours, Williams attacked a system of fortified concrete pillboxes. He fought the enemy at point-blank range when they charged him with bayonets. At one point, he climbed atop a bunker, inserted the nozzle through an air vent and unleashed a burst of flame that killed the occupants. However, he did not do it alone. He is emphatic about this. Two of the four Marines tasked with covering Williams as he assaulted the system of Japanese bunkers gave their lives to ensure he was successful.

He wears the Medal of Honor for them, he says.

Williams was presented the nation’s highest award for battlefield bravery by President Harry S. Truman on Oct. 5, 1945, and in 1969 he retired from the Marine Corps as a chief warrant officer four. These days, the 92-year-old Marine veteran spends his time working with the Hershel Woody Williams Medal of Honor Foundation, a nonprofit group dedicated to erecting monuments in honor of the families of fallen service members.

Williams spoke with Task & Purpose about how his time at war, and the many years spent retelling the story of the Battle of Iwo Jima, have shaped his life; his sense of obligation as a Medal of Honor recipient; and what similarities and differences he sees between his generation and post-9/11 veterans.

After the Battle of Iwo Jima and since receiving the Medal of Honor, would it be fair to say that your life changed, probably pretty dramatically, and if so, how?

It was very difficult for me, as a country boy having been taught all my life you do not kill — that was strictly enforced in my family. That you didn’t kill anything uselessly, whether it was a bird, a chicken, or anything. You just didn’t do it. It was quite an adjustment that I had to make to condition myself, that now I’m going to have to kill other people. That was a terrible adjustment for me.

I had never heard of the Medal of Honor, all the time in my career in the Marine Corps, Medal of Honor was never mentioned. … I had decided it was just a medal, but I realized the day after I received the medal that it would have a tremendous impact on my life.

There were 11 Marines who received it the same day I did … and all of the Marines were ordered to report to the office of the commandant of the Marine Corps the next day. … When I appeared before the Commandant of the Marine Corps on the sixth of October, I realized my life was changing. … I could no longer be the person I was prior to the Marine Corps.

I watched an interview that you did awhile back for Medal of Honor oral histories, and you talked about that meeting with the commandant, can you tell me what he said?

The one thing that has always stuck with me, the little bit that I do remember was one of the very early things that he said. We went into the office, each individual by themselves. Nobody was in the office of the commandant except you and him. … I didn’t know it it at the time, but A.A. Vandegrift was also a Medal of Honor recipient from Guadalcanal, so he knew more about what was coming my way and what the recipients would face, than the average individual because he’d already been there. … But he said to me: “That medal does not belong to you. It belongs to all of those Marines who did not get to come back home.”

Read the Remainder at Task and Purpose

CCW Holder with Epic “Stache” Saves Texas Deputy

Scott Perkins responded as I hope all of us would when he saw a deputy down and fighting for his life.

Not thinking about his own life, a local Marine veteran jumped into action and stopped a man from reaching a Bastrop deputy’s gun as the suspect pummeled the officer during a struggle earlier this month.

“Freeze!” Scott Perkins yelled as he pulled out his concealed handgun, pointing at the suspect.

“I’m alive today because of him,” the deputy, 23-year-old Dylan Dorris said Wednesday, reflecting on the events surrounding a disturbance call outside a Bastrop County gas station Jan. 16. “There are no words to explain it. He’s such an outstanding citizen. He’s here for our country, our community and you really feel the love.”

Perkins’ actions caused the suspect to leave Dorris and flee, before he was detained and taken into custody by another deputy and Dorris shortly after.

…

At a time when anti-law enforcement sentiment is seen in many parts of the country, Perkins’ decision to intervene and help Dorris has touched many in the Bastrop sheriff’s department.

“This day and time, a lot of people would just drive by and keep going,” said Sgt. James Davenport, who was the supervising officer of the incident. “To see someone that will stop and help is special.”

The few minutes when Dorris was fighting with the suspect and couldn’t check in with dispatchers felt like an eternity, Bastrop County sheriff’s dispatcher Ruth Amy said.

“It is very emotional, very emotional,” Amy said. “You go into a mode, for a lack of a better term, you go into an emergency mode and you just do what you have to do.”

In those moments, Dorris remembers fearing for his life.

“I remember thinking stay in the fight. Just keep fighting, keep fighting. Do whatever you can do, just stay alive you need to go home,” Dorris said. He was transported to the hospital and treated for minor injuries that night.

It makes me angry that the mainstream media has so poisoned society against law enforcement that officers and deputies think they’re alone, and that they simply don’t think help from citizens is even a possibility.

just don’t get it.

I’m psychologically wired in such a way that I’m going to run to someone in distress and attempt to do what I can to help them. I’ve done it numerous times, with a pedestrian hit by a car, with vehicular collisions, a motorcycle wipe-out, several fights, and an attempted sexual assault. It’s simply what you do, and I suspect that if I ever saw a firefighter, paramedic, or officer in distress that I’d immediately jump in to help them, the way they always take the risks to help strangers.

It says a lot about the decline of morality and character in our society that Perkins’ actions are viewed as anything other than an automatic response as the “right thing to do,” which Perkins himself seems to get.

But Perkins, who served two tours in Iraq as a Marine, doesn’t see himself as a hero.

“Anytime somebody is in need of help you should assist them. It doesn’t matter whether your life is in danger or not, you should always assist anybody who is in need,” Perkins said.

If we expect to survive as a country and a culture, we have to be willing to put our butts on the line from time to time, selflessly, for others.

If you’re only about “what’s in it for me,” I’d argue you’ve failed as a human being, but that’s just my opinion.

Thank you, Scott Perkins, for stepping up.

You’re one of hopefully hundreds of thousands of Americans who would react exactly the same way.

Read the Original Article at Bearing Arms