07.14.22

Hoeven Honors WWII Veteran, Medal of Honor Recipient Woody Williams

WASHINGTON – Senator John Hoeven today honored the last World War II Medal of Honor recipient, Hershel W. “Woody” Williams at the U.S. Capitol. Williams was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Truman for his heroic efforts at the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945. A West Virginia native, Williams continued to serve in the U.S. Marine Corps twenty years after the war ended and went on to become a veterans service representative at the Huntington Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center in West Virginia, which was renamed after him in 2018.

“We owe a tremendous debt to veterans like Woody, who served with courage and distinction in the Pacific and helped secure victory for America and our allies in the Second World War,” said Hoeven. “As a member of the Greatest Generation, he fought with valor for the freedoms and liberties that we are able to enjoy today, and it is fitting that this American hero lie in honor in the U.S. Capitol.”

The Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military award for acts of valor.  Along with Senators Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), Hoeven helped introduce legislation (S.Con.Res.42) that passed the Senate and the House which allowed the use of the Capitol rotunda for the lying in honor of Williams.   

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