A Black World War II veteran is finally being honored decades after he saved 200 lives, thanks to his family.
During a ceremony on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Sept. 24, Army Cpl. Waverly Woodson Jr. was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross — the second-highest military decoration for soldiers who display extraordinary heroism in combat with an armed enemy force.
It was June 6, 1944, when U.S. soldiers stormed the beaches of Normandy during WWII for what became known as D-Day.
“With a hailstorm of bullets and bombs raking the surf all around him, Sgt. Waverly Woodson, Jr., leaped out of a landing craft onto Normandy Beach on June 6, 1944, and did what he had to do,” Joint Base Andrewssaid of the then-21-year-old medic’s acts of heroism in a March 2015 post.
Woodson had been injured by shrapnel as he continued to care for others. Yet, in those days, Black soldiers did not receive credit for their contributions.
According to The Frederick News-Post, Woodson’s family “fought tirelessly for over 20 years” for him to receive the proper recognition. He died in August 2005, and is survived by his wife, Joann Katharyne Snowden, 95, whom he married in 1952.
Joann Woodson, September 2024.
AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr
The couple had three children together, per NPS.gov.
“It’s been a long, long road … to get to this day,” his son, Steve, told the crowd on Tuesday, CBS News reported. “My father, if he could have been here today, would have been humbled.”
“All throughout the years, my dad never really complained about never being honored for what he had done. He considered that to be his duty,” he continued, per the News-Post. “To have him receive an honor of this stature is just absolutely incredible.”
U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen also spoke at Tuesday’s ceremony after first getting involved with the campaign for Woodson’s posthumous recognition in 2015.
“We’ve been working to right this wrong,” Van Hollen said. “This is an example of people coming together to help make our country strong.”
The outlet added that no Black soldiers who served in World War II were awarded the Medal of Honor until 1997. Woodson was overlooked for the accolade after his Army files were destroyed in a 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center in Missouri.
“Many of us thought this day would never come,” Capt. Kevin Braafladt, First Army Support Command historian, said on Tuesday. “It’s very hard to write history. It’s very hard to give the Army the proof that it wants. It’s nice to know as a reporter, sometimes you can do something that makes a difference.”
