Last WW2 Medal of Honor recipient passed away today.

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Hershel “Woody” Williams, a dear friend of The National WWII Museum and the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient from World War II, passed away today at age 98.

Born in West Virginia, "Woody" Williams grew up on a dairy farm. Before enlisting in the Marine Corps, Williams drove a taxi and then a truck for a construction company.

Initially rejected by the US Marine Corps for being too short, Williams persisted and prevailed, eventually becoming a Marine. He trained in San Diego, California and was assigned to a tank battalion. He was subsequently transferred to demolition detachment as a flamethrower operator.

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 "I strapped a flamethrower on my back and started crawling toward the pillboxes....I can remember bullets ricocheting off my air tank. And I don't know why I was smart enough to figure out that if I crawled closer they couldn't get me. If I crawled backwards, they would have got me."

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"Corporal Williams daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machine-gun fire from the unyielding positions. 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 flamethrowers, 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.

"His unyielding determination and extraordinary heroism in the face of ruthless enemy resistance were directly instrumental in neutralizing one of the most fanatically defended Japanese strong points encountered by his regiment and aided in enabling his company to reach its objective. Corporal Williams' aggressive fighting spirit and valiant devotion to duty throughout this fiercely contested action sustain and enhance the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service."

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