Senator Chris Van Hollen Introduces Legislation To Posthumously Award Black World War II Veteran Medal Of Honor
WASHINGTON (WJZ) -- Senator Chris Van Hollen announced bipartisan legislation to award a Medal of Honor to a Black Maryland World War II veteran.
"It's time that we write this wrong," Van Hollen said.
Since 2015, Van Hollen has been pushing to award the Medal of Honor to Corporal Waverly Woodson, a Black Army medic from Maryland who saved the lives of fellow soldiers on D-Day despite having been wounded himself.
"He worked through his pain for 30 hours to treat hundreds of men and saved countless lives before he collapsed from his injuries," Linda Hervieux, a historian and journalist, said.
Black soldiers who served during World War II weren't given Medals of Honor until 1997, when President Bill Clinton retroactively awarded them. But Corporal Woodson never got one because of lack of evidence.
Woodson died back in 2005, but efforts have continued to award him the Medal of Honor.
Hervieux has spent more than three years looking for supporting documentation and found information about his heroic efforts.
"We have newspaper articles, we have his radio show," she said.
Senator Van Hollen said introducing legislation to award a Medal of Honor is unusual, but believes it will pass in the Senate and House. It then needs to be signed by the president.
"We believe that by passing bipartisan legislation, authorizing the president, whoever that may be at the time, will move forward and do the right thing," Van Hollen said.
Corporal Woodson's widow, Joann, said the family would love to have this recognition for his legacy.
"He deserves it," she said. "We have to keep history alive, and history has to be as correct as it possibly can. This is one way to get it correctly."
Woodson said she plans to donate the Medal of Honor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.