page_title: Hershel W. Williams
section_title: Medal of Honor action
hierarchical_section_title: Hershel W. Williams / Career / Medal of Honor action
caption_attribution_description: English: Harry Truman, president of the United States, congratulates Hershel "Woody" Williams, a Marine reservist and survivor of the battle of Iwo Jima, on being awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions during the battle of Iwo Jima, October 5, 1945 at the White House in Washington. Williams received the Medal of Honor for "conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life" on 23 February 1945 during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
context_page_description: Hershel Woodrow "Woody" Williams is a retired United States Marine Corps warrant officer and United States Department of Veterans Affairs veterans service representative who received the United States military's highest decoration for valor—the Medal of Honor—for heroism above and beyond the call of duty during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. He and Charles H. Coolidge are the only living Medal of Honor recipients from that war. In addition, he is the only surviving Marine to have received the Medal of Honor during World War II, and is the only surviving Medal of Honor recipient from the Pacific theater of the war.
context_section_description: Williams' next and final campaign was at the Battle of Iwo Jima, where he distinguished himself with actions "above and beyond the call of duty" – for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. On February 21, 1945, he landed on the beach with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines. Williams, by then a corporal, distinguished himself two days later when American tanks, trying to open a lane for infantry, encountered a network of reinforced concrete pillboxes. Pinned down by machine gun fire, his company commander asked one of his men to attach a high explosive charge to a pole and with the support of Williams and his flamethrower and several Marine riflemen, shove the improvised weapon into an opening in the enemy's pillbox. As they fought their way to the pillbox, all of the men, except Williams, became casualties. Undeterred, Williams arrived at the first pillbox, shoved the flamethrower nozzle into the pillbox opening and fired the weapon, killing all of the soldiers inside. He then returned five times to his company area, refueled his weapon, and moved forward to destroy the remaining pillboxes.
  Covered by only four riflemen, he fought 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. He returned to the front, frequently to the rear of hostile emplacements, to wipe out one position after another. At one point, a wisp of smoke alerted him to the air vent of a Japanese bunker, and he approached close enough to put the nozzle of his flamethrower through the hole, killing the occupants. On another occasion, he was charged by enemy riflemen who attempted to stop him with bayonets and he killed them with a burst of flame from his weapon.
  These actions occurred on the same day that two flags were raised on Mount Suribachi, and Williams, about one thousand yards away from the volcano, was able to witness the event. He fought through the remainder of the five-week-long battle even though he was wounded on March 6 in the leg by shrapnel, for which he was awarded the Purple Heart.
  In September 1945, he returned to the United States, and on October 1 he joined Marine Corps Headquarters in Washington, D.C. He and thirteen other servicemen were presented the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman on October 5, 1945, at the White House.
  On October 22, 1945, he was transferred to the Marine Barracks, Naval Training Center Bainbridge, Maryland, for discharge. He was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps Reserve on November 6, 1945.
caption: Harry Truman congratulates Hershel Williams on being awarded the Medal of Honor, October 5, 1945
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