He asked me in that point in time if I could do anything with flamethrowers against the pillboxes. I said, "I will try." Much of what went on that day I have absolutely
no memory. From the moment war came to the doorstep of
the United States Hershel Woodrow Williams was determined to
serve his country. Specifically, he had his sights set on becoming
a Marine. That's what I wanted to be. And I have said, jokingly, many times the Marine Corps uniform was so much more
attractive and they could get girls easier than those
guys in those ugly army uniforms and I didn't want to wear that. Every Marine is trained to be a rifleman. And then others are trained with some other
job. And we had trained - crosstrained - where
we were flamethrower operators as well as demolition people. So we could do either job, We could blow it up or burn it up. Whichever they needed. Hershel joined up with the 3rd Marine Division and headed to the South Pacific. There the Allies were locked in a violent
campaign to reclaim the lands the Japanese had taken in the wake of the Pearl Harbor attack. Through this campaign, Hershel would set foot
on islands he had never even heard of before. When I got overseas I ended up on the island
of Guadalcanal, which was the first island that the Marines
had taken in the Pacific. Naturally it was secure when we got there
in late 1943. But in July of that year we went to Guam and took Guam back from the
Japanese. We stayed on Guam, until early February of
1945, we were told we're shipping out. Nobody had any idea where we were going. Hershel and the 3rd Marine Division were off
to invade a small, volcanic island from which the Allies would be close enough
to stage attacks against the Japanese mainland. The island's name: Iwo Jima. None of us, of course, had ever heard tell
of it. They did tell us that it was small. And there were you know, there's 20,000 of us on this ship. Two other Marine divisions were already scheduled to land first. Reasonably, we thought, why would they need so many Marines? And we were told by the briefers that were
briefing us that it probably would last two to three days,
and then we'd be done. We'd go back to our tents that we left on
Guam. But that didn't work out that way. The first night, after having lost so many
the first day on Iwo Jima we got word over the speaker that we were
going in the next day. The Japanese defense on the island was unexpectedly
fierce and the American casualties had far surpassed
predictions. When Hershel and the 3rd Division hit the
shore they were met with an impassible wall of resistance. We had encountered a large number of reinforces
concrete pillboxes. And we couldn't bust through them. Every time we would try to advance, there
were so many of them... They had all field of fire because they're
in a protected area. We're in an open area. And we were losing Marines very rapidly but we needed to go forward in order to capture the island. My commanding officer asked for a meeting. We gathered in a huge shell crater. He asked me in that point in time if I could do anything with flamethrowers against the pillboxes. I said, "I will try." He gave me four Marines. The Marines were to shoot at the pillbox that
I'm going to try to get flame inside so that we could eliminate the enemy within. Much of what went on that day I have absolutely
no memory. Under constant enemy fire, Hershel advanced
up the beach successfully taking out one pillbox after
another. When a flamethrower would run out, he returned
to the rear of the American lines, grabbed another, and advanced again to the
next pillbox. Hershel repeated this for hours miraculously, never receiving a single wound. But the Marines providing his cover fire would
not be so fortunate. Two of them lost their lives that day, doing
that. But I was able to advance, with the help of other Marines, I was able to eliminate the enemy within seven
of those pillboxes. That gave us a way of getting through. And once we passed through that protective
pillbox area, then we had the advantage. After five weeks of ferocious combat and over 40,000 American and Japanese casualties the Allies had finally taken Iwo Jima. The cost of victory was far greater than had
been speculated. But recognizing that losses would certainly
have been higher had it not been for acts of bravery like that
of Hershel and the four Marines who protected him, Hershel's commanding officer recommended him
for the Medal of Honor. When the war ended, Hershel was called back
to Washington D.C. where he and several other Medal of Honor
recipients were congratulated by President Harry Truman. But Hershel, viewing his actions on Iwo Jima
as simply part of his duties, was unaware why he had been invited to such
an event. There were thirteen of us that day on the
White House lawn. Until they read my citation, I had no idea
why I was receiving it. Thirteen of us received the medal. I'm the last of the thirteen. They have all - all gone on. It changed my life completely, of course. Throughout the decades since receiving the
medal, Hershel has remained a shining example of
honor and humility. But he has never forgotten the two Marines
to whom he believes the medal truly belongs. I wear it in their honor. I'm just the caretaker of the medal. Because, particularly those two Marines who
sacrificed their life protecting me, they earned the medal more than I did. I just wear it in their honor and say, I am
the caretaker. To this day, Hershel Williams continues to
serve his country. Since 2010, the Hershel Woody Williams Medal
of Honor Foundation has been establishing permanent Gold Star
Family Memorials all across the United States. The memorials are dedicated to those who have
lost loved ones in military conflict. They lost part of themselves when they lost
their loved one. And, for relatives of those who sacrificed
their lives, those relatives they never have an opportunity to grow up
together and that vacancy is always there. We're here in this little community to dedicate a Gold Star Family Memorial Monument. Its purpose is to honor those Gold Star Families who made that... who lost that loved one for our freedom.
