Trending
WASHINGTON, D.C. – One of West Virginia’s congressional representatives on Tuesday applauded the passage of the Hershel "Woody" Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act.
Congressman Riley M. Moore, R-District 2, said he is happy that the legislation will ensure the National Medal of Honor Monument honoring America's Medal of Honor recipients is located in a prominent palace on the National Mall near the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
"Woody Williams, who was a constituent of the Second District, is an American hero and legendary West Virginian," Moore said in a Tuesday press release. "It is fitting that the bill creating the National Medal of Honor Monument bears his name.
"We each owe so much to the courage, patriotism, and grit of men like Woody and the other amazing recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. I was proud to support this bill to give the recipients of our nation's highest military decoration their proper place of honor on the national mall alongside great statesmen like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington."
The legislation is named in honor of Hershel "Woody" Williams, a native West Virginian and World War II Medal of Honor recipient who "embodied the courage, sacrifice and patriotism of the American fighting spirit," the release stated. "The bill will provide a permanent and prominent place in the nation's capital to honor the men and women who have received America's highest military decoration for valor."
Williams, who died in 2022, was the last surviving Congressional Medal of Honor recipient from World War II. Williams, a Quiet Dell native, was a Marine Corps veteran who was in combat in the Pacific.
He received the Medal of Honor in 1945, after serving in the Battle of Iwo Jima with the 21st Marines, 3rd Marine Division.
His Woody Williams Foundation is responsible for establishing 140 Gold Star Families Memorial Monuments across the country, with another 47 under way.
His motto, in fulfilling his foundation’s mission, had always been “The cause is greater than I.”
The National Medal of Honor Monument was previously authorized by Congress in 2021.
"This legislation takes the next step by establishing its location on the National Mall, ensuring generations of Americans will have the opportunity to learn about and honor the extraordinary sacrifices of Medal of Honor recipients," the release states.