{"id":82907,"date":"2024-06-03T18:46:23","date_gmt":"2024-06-03T18:46:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/uncategorized\/2024\/06\/03\/black-medic-who-saved-dozens-on-d-day-posthumously-honored\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T15:27:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T15:27:44","slug":"black-medic-who-saved-dozens-on-d-day-posthumously-honored","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/armytimes\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/06\/03\/black-medic-who-saved-dozens-on-d-day-posthumously-honored\/","title":{"rendered":"Black medic who saved dozens on D-Day posthumously honored"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/dday-medal-of-honor-arlington-black-combat-medic-soldier-b7f013fffe6fb85a597692c0f8e6e308\" target=\"_blank\">Waverly Woodson Jr., a medic<\/a>&nbsp;who was part of the only Black combat unit to take part in the D-Day invasion of France during World War II, is being posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in recognition of the heroism and determination he showed treating troops under heavy enemy fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.vanhollen.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/van-hollen-announces-award-of-distinguished-service-cross-to-d-day-veteran-waverly-woodson\" target=\"_blank\">The announcement was made<\/a>&nbsp;Monday by Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, who has been working for years with Woodson\u2019s family for&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/c2fa8d53b5a14dfabd8f7512431e6269\" target=\"_blank\">more recognition of his exploits<\/a>&nbsp;on that fateful day.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/news\/your-marine-corps\/2024\/05\/16\/one-of-1st-black-marines-to-serve-in-combat-honored-for-100th-birthday\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Larry-Diggs.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">One of 1st Black Marines to serve in combat honored for 100th birthday<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Former Cpl. Lawrence \u201cLarry\u201d Diggs, a Montford Point Marine and World War II vet, received early 100th birthday wishes from top military officials.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis has been a long time coming,\u201d Van Hollen said during an interview with The Associated Press. \u201cWoodson\u2019s bravery on D-Day was heroic. We have numerous accounts of what he did to save his fellow soldiers even as he was wounded. And so we\u2019ve been pursuing this recognition for a long time along with the family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The announcement comes just days before the 80th anniversary of the June 6 anniversary of the assault that led to the liberation of France and the rest of Western Europe from Nazi Germany.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Woodson was just 21 years old when his unit, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, took part in the Allied operation. His battalion, the only African American combat unit there that day, was responsible for setting up balloons to deter enemy planes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At a time when the U.S. military was still segregated by race, about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/us-news-ap-top-news-world-war-ii-germany-baton-rouge-3f2df9d9bd0d4a449ae60b422c72a1ab\" target=\"_blank\">2,000 African American troops<\/a>&nbsp;are believed to have taken part in the D-Day invasion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Woodson died in 2005. He spoke to the AP in 1994 about how his landing craft came under intense fire from the Germans as it approached the beach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe tide brought us in, and that\u2019s when the 88s hit us,\u201d he said of the German 88mm guns. \u201cThey were murder. Of our 26 Navy personnel there was only one left. They raked the whole top of the ship and killed all the crew. Then they started with the mortar shells,\u201d Woodson said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Woodson was wounded while still on the landing craft. But for the next 30 hours he treated 200 wounded men all while under intense small arms and artillery fire before collapsing from his injuries and blood loss, according to accounts of his service. At the time he was awarded the Bronze Star.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Although 1.2 million Black Americans served in the military during World War II, none was among the original recipients of the Medal of Honor awarded in the conflict. The Army commissioned a study in the early 1990s to analyze whether Black troops had been unjustly overlooked during an era of widespread racism and segregation in the military. Ultimately, seven Black World War II troops were awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/military-honor\/black-military-history\/2018\/01\/30\/african-american-gis-of-wwii-fighting-for-democracy-abroad-and-at-home\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/GettyImages-3354173.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">African-American GIs of WWII: Fighting for democracy abroad and at home<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Until this century, the contributions of African-American soldiers in World War II barely registered in America\u2019s collective memory of that war.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">At the time, Woodson was considered for the award and the authors interviewed him. But, they wrote, his decoration case file couldn\u2019t be found and his personnel records were destroyed in a 1973 fire at a military records facility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">His wife reached out to Van Hollen\u2019s office to seek his assistance in helping get Woodson the recognition she felt he deserved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWaverly would have felt honored to be recognized for what he knew was his duty. But we all know it was far more than duty; it was his desire to always help people in need,\u201d said Joann Woodson in the announcement from the senator\u2019s office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Van Hollen said he and Woodson\u2019s family were still working to have Woodson awarded the Medal of Honor but called the awarding of the Distinguished Service Cross, the second-highest U.S. military honor, an \u201cextremely significant\u201d moment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThis moment is extremely significant at overcoming what has been an historic injustice and righting this wrong,\u201d said Van Hollen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Waverly Woodson Jr., a medic who was part of the only Black combat unit to take part in D-Day, was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":110076,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":91,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[100,91,12,25,19,70],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3185],"class_list":["post-82907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-military-history","category-news","category-newsletters","category-veterans","category-your-army"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"YQJNGOWULVCEVIAHX6UKI6SIOY","arc_canonical_url":"\/veterans\/military-history\/2024\/06\/03\/black-medic-who-saved-dozens-on-d-day-posthumously-honored\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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