He was passed over due to his race.
Washington DC (KM) Now is a good time to right a wrong, according to 6th District Representative David Trone. He and other federal legislators have sent a letter to President Trump, asking that he posthumously award the Medal of Honor to Corporal Waverly Woodson. He’s an African-American soldier who was on the beaches of Normandy during the D-Day Invasion of June 6th, 1944, working as a medic. “He helped over 200–200 folks–on the battle in the middle of the live fire, and actually performed an imputation, operations, all on the battle right in the middle of fire while he was grievously wounded for 30-hours, non-stop,” Trones says.
Trone say Woodson was recommended for the Medal of Honor, but was passed over because of his race. “We had a real situation where race played a determining factor on people’s valor,” he says.
Woodson enlisted in the Army after graduating from Pennsylvania’s Lincoln University in Philadelphia, according to an Associated Press article. . He was a member of the 320th Barrage Balloon Brigade whose job was to set up explosive-rigged balloons to deter German planes. He attended officer’s training school. But before he graduated, he was told the Army had too many antiaircraft officers and he was sent back to the 320th where he trained as a medic.
After the World War II, Woodson went on to study medical technology, and worked for 28 years at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, and the National Institutes of Health. He is a former resident of Clarksburg, Md.
Woodson died in 2005. His widow, Joann, has also been working to get the Medal of Honor for her husband.
Trone says there’s a good chance this push to get this honor for Woodson will succeed. “President Trump can fix this immediately,” Trone says. “We think that’s something that the President, if we can get it to his attention, he could do this and really honor Corporal Woodson and his valor.”
In addition to Trone, other members of Congress who signed the letter are Representatives Jaime Raskin (D-Md), C.A. “Dutch” Ruppersburg, (D-Md), John Sarbanes (D-Md), Andy Harris (R-Md), Anthony Brown (D-Md), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md), Steny Hoyer (D-Md), Jahana Hayes (D-Ct), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Ayana Pressley (D-Ma), Val Demings (D-Fla.) Dwight Evans (D Pa.) and Gwen Moore (D-Tex). Also signing are Senators Chris Van Hollen (D-Md), Ben Cardin (D-Md), Pat Toomey (R. Pa), Bob Casey (D-Pa) and Cory Booker (D. NJ)
By Kevin McManus