Word Celebrity Blog

Hershel Woodrow Williams


Early years

Hershel Woodrow Williams was born in Fairmont, West Virginia, on October 2, 1923, He grew up on a dairy farm in nearby Quiet Dell. Hershel worked a series of odd jobs in the area, including as a truck driver for W. S. Harr Construction Company of Fairmont, West Virginia and as a taxi driver.



















He had no plans to enter the military. He had never heard of Japan. He had never heard of Pearl Harbor. When the war started, he joined the Marines because he liked the look of the “dress blues” some of his neighbors wore.

The first time the five foot six, 19 year old  "Woody" Williams tried to join the Marines, in the fall of 1942, he was too short. The second time he tried, a few months later, he wasn't:  The Marine Corps had relaxed its height requirements.


World War II Service

Private Hershel Williams received his recruit training at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego, California. He was thensent to the Training Center, Camp Elliott, San Diego California, where he joined the Tank Battalion on August 21, 1943.


























The following month he was transferred to the Infantry Battalion at the Training Center, for training as a demolition man and in the use of the flame thrower. On October 30, 1943, he joined the 32nd Replacement Battalion.

Private Williams joined the 32nd Replacement Battalion on October 30, 1943, and left for New Caledonia in the southwest Pacific on December 3. 1943 aboard the M.S. Weltey Reden.  In January 1944, Hershel Williams joined the 3rd Marine Division at Guadalcanal. He was first attached to Company C, 1st Battalion, 21st Marines and then to Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 21st Marines.

During July and August 1944, he participated in action against the Japanese at Guam, and in October he rejoined Company C.  His part in the invasion of Guam, which seemed horrific.That was until he was sent to Iwo Jima the following year. The beach area in Guam was clear and relatively undefended. The Marines could advance into the jungle. At Iwo Jima, all the cover  of jungle vegetation had been blown away, and the beach became a slaughterhouse.























Hershel William's company was supposed to hit the beach on February 20, 1945, but there were so many Marines stuck on the beachhead that there was no place for them. They finally landed the next day on February 21, even though the Marines were still backed up and unable to advance. The island's volcanic ash was so porous that it was impossible to dig foxholes or create cover. The American troops were taking huge casualties. His unit had landed with six flamethrower troops and had lost them all in two days without advancing more than fifty yards.

When the American tanks, tried to open a lane for the infantry, they encountered a network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, buried mines, and black volcanic sand. The pillboxes were arranged in pods of three, connected by a system of tunnels.

























Corporal Williams went forward, alone with his 70-pound  flamethrower in an attempt to reduce the devastating machine gun fire from the Japanese positions. He was covered by only four riflemen. Corporal Williams fought for 4 hours under massive enemy small arms fire.





















The flame thrower is made out of two large tanks and a small one. You can not crawl on the ground with these tanks on your back. You have to maneuver to and fight your enemy while you are standing up in the open. Since the terror and horrow of the painful destruction that a flame thrower can produce in combat, the flame thrower operator can attract a lot of enemy fire.




















The fuel in his tanks did not last long so he also had to leave the fighting, return for re-supply and then maneuver back into action. All the while standing straight up and making an excellent target for the Japanese. He repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and to obtain reserviced flame throwers. He then returned to the fighting, frequently, to the rear of the Japanese emplacements, to wipe out each enemy position one after another. 

One time, a wisp of smoke alerted him to an air vent of a Japanese bunker, and he approached close enough to put the nozzle of his flamethrower through the hole, His flames killed the occupants. On another occasion, Corporal Williams charged the Japanese soldiers who attempted to stop him with bayonets and with a burst of flame from his weapon, he quickly incinerated them.

















Corporal Williams actions occurred on the same day as the raising of the U.S. flag on the island's Mount Suribachi. Corporal Williams was not able to witness the event. He fought similar encounters through the remainder of the five week long battle. He was wounded on March 6, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.

When  "Woody" Williams's company was taken off the line a week and a half later, only seventeen of the 279 men who had hit the beach with the company had not been killed or wounded.

After the battle of Iwo Jima, Hershel Williams went back to Guam as part of the Marine force training for the invasion of Japan, which became unnecessary after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.






















In September 1945,  he returned to the United States.  Hershel Williams was only 21,  when at the White House, President Harry S Truman put the medal around his neck. At that moment, on October 5, 1945, Woody resolved to consider himself the Medal Of Honor's caretaker,  for the Marines who didn't come home from Iwo Jima.





















Later Career

On October 22, 1945, Hershel Williams was transferred to the Marine Barracks, Naval Training Center, Bainbridge, Maryland, for discharge. He was discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on November 6, 1945. In March 1948, he reenlisted in the inactive Marine Corps Reserve, but was again discharged on August 4, 1949.



























On October 20, 1954, he joined the Organized Marine Reserve when the 98th Special Infantry Company was authorized by Marine Corps Headquarters, Clarksburg, West Virginia. He transferred to the 25th Infantry Company in Huntington, West Virginia on June 9, 1957. He later became the (Interim)  Commanding Officer of that unit as a warrant officer on June 6, 1960.  He was designated the Mobilization Officer for the 25th Infantry Company and surrounding Huntington area on June 11, 1963.

He was advanced through the warrant officer ranks during his time in the Reserves until reaching his final rank of Chief Warrant Officer 4 (CWO-4).  Although CWO-4 Hershel Williams technically did not meet retirement requirements, he was honorarily retired from the Marine Corps Reserve in 1969 after approximately 17 years of service.


The Medal Of Honor

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the MEDAL OF HONOR to

CORPORAL HERSHEL W. WILLIAMS
UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS RESERVE
for service as set forth in the following














CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and  intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of duty as Demolition Sergeant serving with the First Battalion, Twenty-First Marines, Third Marine Division, in action against enemy Japanese forces on Iwo Jima, Volcano Island, 23 February 1945. Quick to volunteer his services when our tanks were maneuvering vainly to open a lane for the infantry through the network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, buried mines and black, volcanic sands, 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 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. 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.

/S/ HARRY S. TRUMAN


Other Honors:

In 1965, Williams received West Virginia's Distinguished Service Medal.

In 1967, he was honored by the Veteran's Administration with the Vietnam Service Medal for service as a civilian counselor to the armed forces.

In 1999, he was added to the City of Huntington Foundation's "Wall of Fame".

Named in his honor:
    * The West Virginia National Guard Armory in Fairmont, West Virginia;
    * A bridge at Barboursville, West Virginia;
    * An athletic field at Huntington, West Virginia.


Hershel Williams is the  retired Commandant of the West Virginia Veterans Home at Barboursville, West Virginia, He was appointed as the first Commandant in 1980 and served until June 1985. He is also retired as Veterans Services Officer, United States Veterans Administration, January 1978 after 33 years of serving veterans.


















Family Status And Activities

Hershel Woodrow Williams married to Ruby Dale Meredith of Fairmont, West Virginia, They have two daughters, Travie Jane and Tracie Jean and 5 grandsons. One grandson served in Desert Storm.

For more than 27 years, he has operated a boarding and training barn for horses at Ona, West Virginia, with his wife, Ruby, and his grandson Todd Lee Graham.

He is active  in his church, as well community and veterans' organizations.

*****

Darol “Lefty” Lee is one of the four riflemen who provided cover for Williams on Feb. 23, 1945.

A citation written by Hershel Williams' commanding officer and the four witnesses used words like “conspicuous gallantry” and “intrepidity” to describe Williams actions. But for him and Darol Lee, those four hours lost significance in the atmosphere of war.

“We thought it was a job,” Darol Lee said. “We never thought of it as anything exceptional.”

























Hershel Williams has no idea how many people he killed that day, but images of the fighting has haunted him. In the years that followed the war, he suffered sleepless nights as the Medal Of Honor changed his life’s course.

Hershel Williams struggled with the after-effects of combat stress until 1962. “I was bothered a bit by the residuals of war,” he said.

After years of bitter independence, Hershel Williams said God spoke to him in a church in 1962, at which time he experienced a religious renewal. The dark visions of war dissipated. He became active in his church as a lay minister.  He served his fellow recipients and their loved ones as chaplain for many years.  He became chaplain for the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, a position he held for 35 years.



















"Woody" travels the country and makes seventy to eighty public appearances a year. He carries gold dollars in his pockets and awards them to people in his audience who can correctly answer his questions on history, and not just military history. He told me we have to "continue the need for history."

Hershel Williams continues to serve his country as he travels and reminds us of our nation's history.

The blue spangled ribbon hangs from his neck and the star-shaped design dangles below it, but the honor doesn’t actually belong to him. Hershel "Woody" Williams said:  “I took a different purpose in life, simply because this medal belongs to somebody else,” Williams said. “It belongs to those Marines who did not get to come home.”