Army urged to recognize WWII ‘hero’
A new push is underway to posthumously award an African American soldier the Medal of Honor for his bravery on D-day.
Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. was an army medic assigned to the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion. The battalion’s job was to set up explosiverigged balloons to deter German planes. At a time when the military was still segregated by race, the balloon battalion was the only African American combat unit to land on Normandy on June 6, 1944.
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who’s been pushing to recognize Woodson’s heroism during the Normandy invasion, and 51 members of the Congressional Black Caucus are petitioning the Army to review Woodson’s case. Van Hollen became involved in Woodson’s case in 2015 when Woodson’s wife, who lives in Maryland, came to him for help.
“Cpl. Woodson was a hero who saved dozens, if not hundreds, of lives on Omaha Beach. His courage deserves to be honored with the Medal of Honor, and I continue to work with the Army to make this a reality,” Van Hollen said in a news release.
A letter sent to the Army on Wednesday asks Ryan Mccarthy, the acting secretary of the Army, to open a formal review into the Woodson case.
“Cpl. Woodson went above and beyond the call of duty by spending 30 grueling hours saving the lives of dozens, if not hundreds, of his fellow soldiers,” the letter reads.”cpl. Woodson was a war hero who has been inadequately recognized for his actions on D-day,” the letter reads.
It is clear, the letter says, that Woodson did not receive the medal during World War II “because of the color of his skin.”
Woodson died in 2005. He spoke to The Associated Press in 1994 about how his landing craft hit a mine on the way to Omaha Beach.
“The tide brought us in, and that’s when the 88s hit us,” he said of the German 88mm guns. “Of our 26 Navy personnel there was only one left. They raked the whole top of the ship and killed all the crew.”
The letter says the Army is preventing a formal review of Woodson’s case because it lacks an original award recommendation. But in Linda Hervieux’s book, “Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-day’s Black Heroes, At Home and At War,” she cites a memorandum in the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library that comments on Woodson’s bravery.
The memorandum notes that Woodson’s actions merited a Congressional Medal given by the president.
“There is only one medal to which the General could have been referring: the Medal of Honor,” the letter from the Congressional Black Caucus members states.