On Wednesday, U.S. Staff Sergeant Waverly Woodson Jr. was posthumously awarded the Bronze Medal and Combat Medic Badge in a wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. Wounded himself, Woodson tended to other soldiers while under fire at Omaha Beach on D-Day in 1944.
His wife Joann and family accepted the medals he never received during the war due to redeployment.
Efforts to obtain the Medal of Honor for Waverly Woodson continue. Senator Chris Van Hollen issued this statement after the ceremony on Oct. 11:
“Staff Sergeant Waverly Woodson displayed extraordinary valor on D-Day when, over a period of 30 hours and under enemy fire, he saved the lives of dozens – if not hundreds – of his fellow soldiers on Omaha Beach. But his heroic actions never received the full recognition they merited – due to the color of his skin. The formal presentation of his Bronze Star and the addition of the Combat Medic Badge to his record are important steps, but I will not stop fighting, together with his widow Joann, to right past wrongs and award Staff Sgt. Woodson with the Medal of Honor – recognition he so clearly earned.”
