Posted on 06/30/2022 7:20:54 AM PDT by Borges
He was the last of the 27 Marines and Navy servicemen who received Medals of Honor in the 36-day fight for the Japanese island.
Hershel Williams, the last survivor among the 472 servicemen who were awarded the Medal of Honor for extraordinary bravery in World War II and the oldest living recipient of the medal, died on Wednesday in Huntington, W.Va. He was 98.
His death, at the Huntington Veterans Affairs Medical Center, was announced by the Woody Williams Foundation.
Corporal Williams was lying prone on the black volcanic ash of Iwo Jima the morning of Feb. 23, 1945, when he was startled by the sounds of cheering. “Suddenly, the Marines around me starting jumping up and down, firing their weapons in the air,” he told the Marine Corps History Division long afterward. “My head was buried in the sand. Then I looked up and saw Old Glory on top of Mount Suribachi.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
RIP and Thank You!!
Thank you, Sir.
Hand salute.
God Bless Hershel Williams. God Bless America. And Bless em all.
Ping
Truly, the Greatest Generation.
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