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[Gordon Shumway]

The faded, type-written piece of paper was buried in a box of 70-year-old documents at a presidential archive, but after it was recently unearthed, the fragile paper shined a spotlight on what a history detective called an injustice that lingers on from the Second World War – that of some black heroes who fought, but were forgotten.

“Here is a Negro from Philadelphia who has been recommended for a suitable award... This is a big enough award so that the President can give it personally, as he has in the case of some white boys,” stated the 1944 U.S. War Department memo to the Franklin D. Roosevelt White House.

The memo was written about Army Cpl. Waverly Woodson, Jr., and the “suitable award” important enough for Roosevelt to consider personally giving Woodson was the Congressional Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest military award given for valor. It would recognize his heroic actions as a combat medic on Omaha Beach, June 6, 1944, during the first hours of the Allies' D-Day invasion of Europe.

But Woodson, who was black, never received the Medal of Honor or the Distinguished Service Cross, the military’s second-highest honor. Now his family, with the help of the author of a new book on his unit and a sympathetic congressman, are trying to restore and highlight a page erased from the history of the Greatest Generation by requesting the Medal of Honor be finally given to him.

"It's never too late. It's always possible to right a wrong. We need to let the future generations know what happened in World War II. The younger generation doesn't even know what World War II was," Woodson's widow, Joann, told ABC News in an interview on Tuesday, two days before President Obama is scheduled to bestow a Medal of Honor on a veteran of the War in Afghanistan.

Full article and a video @ source.

 

[D i Z]

Unfortunately American history (and European) is littered with black servicemen who will never be recognized for incredible acts of valor and heroism.

 

[Tagyhag]

I knew he was going to be a minority as soon as I read the title. They should do it.

 

[zeemumu]

Alive or not, they can still honor him with it. I don't see why they couldn't now.

 

[Vincent Alexander]

That'd be great if he got one. Would Obama have to approve? I hate to go negative, but I wonder how many would bitch about a black president playing "favorites" and giving a black man the MoH.

 

[dallow_bg]

How he earned it:

Hervieux, a former reporter and editor for the New York Daily News now living in Paris, wrote of Woodson that on Omaha Beach he "pulled out bullets, patched gaping wounds, and dispensed blood plasma. He amputated a right foot."

"When he thought he could do no more, he resuscitated four drowning men. Thirty hours after he set his boots on Omaha Beach, Woody Woodson collapsed" of exhaustion and of shrapnel wounds he suffered as the landing craft neared the beach." They took him to a hospital ship but he begged to go back in and rejoined the 320th on the beach.

 

[TheSeks]

That'd be great if he got one. Would Obama have to approve? I hate to go negative, but I wonder how many would bitch about a black president playing "favorites" and giving a black man the MoH.

Er-Why couldn't they give TWO medal of honors? One to the dude as scheduled, one posthumously.

 

[antonz]

Obama should make it happen.

 

[Frog-fu]

Knew he was black the second I read the thread title.

Black servicemen have never gotten a fair shake or their due of respect in America.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Unfortunately American history (and European) is littered with black servicemen who will never be recognized for incredible acts of valor and heroism.

Damn shame.

I knew he was going to be a minority as soon as I read the title. They should do it.

Alive or not, they can still honor him with it. I don't see why they couldn't now.

Absolutely.

That'd be great if he got one. Would Obama have to approve? I hate to go negative, but I wonder how many would bitch about a black president playing "favorites" and giving a black man the MoH.

I don't think that would be a problem..and who cares what people think. The man is due..

 

[Vincent Alexander]

I don't think that would be a problem..and who cares what people think. The man is due..

Yeah. I mean, holy hell...he even revived people who had drowned. That's tough enough to do in a setting without bullets flying all around.

 

[Klyka]

"Here is a Negro hero..."

God those were fucking different times. Jesus.

 

[antonz]

"Here is a Negro hero..."

God those were fucking different times. Jesus.

I could almost see this letter being misplaced and lost to time partly because General Lee was the one who recommended he get the medal. Lee wasn't very popular in some circles because he went against the Army Segregation policies. He didn't give a shit about all black units or anything of the sort. You were fit and wanted to serve on the front you were going even if it meant mixed units

 

[Rydeen]

Knew he was black the second I read the thread title.

Black servicemen have never gotten a fair shake or their due of respect in America.

It's incredible how long the 54th Massachusetts were forgotten by history until the movie Glory came out. And I think it's a huge injustice that U.S. Marshall Bass Reeve's life story isn't more recognized, but I guess it's par for the course in a country that idolized white outlaws like Jesse James and Billy The Kid.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Yeah. I mean, holy hell...he even revived people who had drowned. That's tough enough to do in a setting without bullets flying all around.

For sure..dude was a boss.

"Here is a Negro hero..."

God those were fucking different times. Jesus.

Indeed lol..

 

[Earthstrike]

Republicans unanimously oppose.

 

[Rhomega Beta]

"The younger generation doesn't even know what World War II was,"

...I'm sorry, what?

 

[Gordon Shumway]

...I'm sorry, what?

Some people say silly things..

 

[Cow Mengde]

Republicans unanimously oppose.

I really want to hear what excuse they'll come up with for this.

 

[antonz]

...I'm sorry, what?

I think what she was trying to say is the war is now far enough in the past survivors are few and the tales of the war are being lost to time. If you aren't someone who is really interested in WWII its basically just another war in the past at this point

 

[bishoptl]

Republicans unanimously oppose.

You think?

 

[OrlanisWorks]

Wouldn't be surprised old white republicans would oppose.

...I'm sorry, what?

I've talked to several people in their thirties and late twenties who didn't even know what the holocaust was. In America. Educated in America. Blew my mind.

 

[Gordon Shumway]

I've talked to several people in their thirties and late twenties who didn't even know what the holocaust was. In America. Educated in America. Blew my mind.

The hell? I can't even understand how that's possible..

 

[Deleted member 80556]

I've talked to several people in their thirties and late twenties who didn't even know what the holocaust was. In America. Educated in America. Blew my mind.

If people are forgetting the horrors of our past, we're more than bound to repeat them as a species. Horrifying.