Inspirational: World War Two Hero Still Leads by Example after 70 Years

In early December, I had the humbling honor of being connected with a former Marine named Hershel “Woody” Williams, a World War II Medal of Honor recipient. Williams, a man with blood ties to the American Revolution, participated in combat on a rock called Iwo Jima in 1945, and I might not have paid as much attention to his incredible story had it not been for my own roots in our nation’s birth. It turns out that as direct descendants of Revolutionary War soldiers, both Woody Williams and I are able to claim membership in the National Society of the Sons of the American Revolution.

Williams’ combat action on the black Iwo Jima sand nearly 71 years ago was of the same determined grit of our ancestors as they faced down the most powerful military on the planet in 1776 — the British — and achieved victory. His Medal of Honor citation can be found here, but the line that sticks out most to me is this one:

On one occasion, he daringly mounted a pillbox to insert the nozzle of his flamethrower through the air vent, killing the occupants and silencing 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.

Just think for a moment about what the odds of death were in such a situation. Williams did what he had to do, over and over again. In the relative comfort of our 21st century lives, it’s really hard for most of us to imagine the adrenaline, fear, and the frame of mind someone would have had to be in to pull off an action like Woody’s. At the heart of it all, it was really a suicide mission.

Read the Remainder at Task and Purpose