Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr. spent 30 hours treating the wounded at Normandy — all while enduring the pain from his own severe injuries.
Courtesy of the Woodson family via APCpl . Waverly B. Woodson Jr. pass 30 hours treating wounded soldiers and saving drowning troops at Normandy — all while being injured himself .
A bipartisan coalition of U.S. lawmakers is working to fight for a special posthumous prize for an American hero of World War II whose courage was not properly recognized .
According toCNN , Army trefoil Cpl . Waverly Woodson Jr. was among the countless aesculapian professional deployed to the battlefield during the warfare , saving untold lives in his wake . He was part of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion — the only all - Black unit that set down onOmaha Beach on D - solar day .
Courtesy of the Woodson family via APCpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. spent 30 hours treating wounded soldiers and saving drowning troops at Normandy — all while being injured himself.
Like other veterans of WWII , Woodson was present a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his valor and even received honors from the Gallic authorities , too . His heroism during that fateful daytime should have earned him another accolade — the Medal of Honor , the highest military award in the U.S.
Yet , it did n’t and many mistrust it was because he was pitch-dark .
Lawmakers involved in the push button for Woodson ’s Medal of Honor recognition say that Black soldier were n’t count for the laurels at the time . Now , 15 years after the veteran ’s death , U.S. lawgiver are seek to make damages .
U.S. Maritime Commission/Library of CongressAmerican troops at Omaha Beach. An estimated one million Black soldiers served in WWII.
U.S. Maritime Commission / Library of CongressAmerican troops at Omaha Beach . An estimate one million Black soldier dish in WWII .
“ Cpl . Waverly Woodson never welcome the Medal of Honor for his prominent courage and bravery at the Battle of Normandy where he saved many of his soldiers , and he was deny that Medal of Honor because of the color of his tegument , ” say U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen , a Democrat from Maryland .
He added that the absence of a Medal of Honor to Woodson ’s name was “ a historical injustice . ”
Linda Hervieux/APJoann Woodson (pictured) has been working with lawmakers so that her late husband may be properly recognized with the Medal of Honor.
Lawmakers behind the marriage proposal have been working with his widow , Joann , to present the belated warhorse with the high-pitched award for his service of process . Unfortunately , many records of his valour have been lose which has made it take exception to make his case .
“ I need to thank all of you for being so concerned and being at my back to see if we can right this incorrect , or to at least have the recognition that my dear darling husband merit , ” Woodson ’s 91 - year - one-time widow say of the proposal ’s announcement .
If the marriage offer is approved by U.S. Congress , she plans to donate her husband ’s Medal of Honor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington , D.C.
During the state of war , the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion deploy balloons design to protect scout group on Omaha Beach from onrush by Nazi fighter aircraft plane . Woodson have serious shrapnel lesion to his inner thigh and his back even before start out off his landing place trade .
Linda Hervieux / APJoann Woodson ( pictured ) has been working with lawmakers so that her late hubby may be properly recognized with the Medal of Honor .
Yet , he hang on and treated hurt troops on the beach for 30 60 minutes in the midst of hail fire from enemy forces .
“ He worked through his pain to save life , ” journalist Linda Hervieux , whowroteabout the Black plurality in her 2015 bookForgotten , said about Woodson ’s action on D - Day .
“ He pulled out bullets , he patched injury , he dispensed parentage plasma , he amputated a right foot . And when he thought he could do no more , he deliver four overwhelm men . Thirty hours after , he collapsed from his own accidental injury . ”
grant to Joann , after the war , her hubby exercise in clinical pathology for 38 years at the National Institutes of Health . His specialised stake was in the practice of open - mettle surgery .
“ He was always dedicated to whatever he did , and he did a good job , but I really do find that with the knowledge he had survive much further , ” she enjoin . It was n’t until decades after the war that Black troops were reconsider for the Medal of Honor award .
President Bill Clinton awarded the ribbon to seven Black soldiers in 1997 . Woodson had been shortlist but his nominating address fall through due to lack of documentation .
Lawmakers have resurrected Woodson ’s case with the research from Hervieux ’s book as supporting material in stead of his missing documents . Woodson ’s lack of document is n’t strange ; much of the country ’s World War II archives were destroy in the fire at the Army ’s Personnel Records Center in St. Louis in 1973 .
An estimate one million Black Americans serve during World War II yet , like Woodson , they were largely unrecognized . Hopefully , that grave disservice will be rectify presently .
Next , get wind about theBuffalo Soldiers , the first all - calamitous peacetime regiment of America ’s westerly frontier , and then meetCharity Adams Earley , the highest - ranking African American fair sex police officer of World War II .
