Badass of the Day (Many thanks to the midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy who created these and are sharing them) After enlisting in the Marine Corps in 1943, Cpl Hershel Woody Williams was sent to the Pacific to fight in both the Guam and Iwo Jima campaigns. He received the Medal of Honor and Purple Heart in 1945 for his actions in the battle of Iwo Jima while serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-First Marines, Third Marine Division. Covered only by four riflemen, he fought desperately for four hours under terrific enemy small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain serviced flame throwers, struggling back, frequently to the rear of hostile emplacements, to wipe out one position after another. On one occasion he daringly mounted a pillbox to insert the nozzle of his flame-thrower through the air vent, kill the occupants and silence the gun; on another he grimly charged enemy riflemen who attempted to stop him with bayonets and destroyed them with a burst of flame from his weapon. He retired in 1962 as a chief warrant officer. If you’d like to hear from one of the few remaining heroes of World War II, come to the Leaders in Action Conference on Wednesday, 1 October. usnihistoryconference.org
Posted on: Thu, 25 Sep 2014 15:53:52 +0000
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