Mar 10 2021
Taylor Stuck | Herald-Dispatch
CHARLESTON — The West Virginia Senate on Friday passed a resolution penned by West Virginia hero Hershel “Woody” Williams.
Senate Joint Resolution 13 asks the adjutant general to establish an honor guard in each National Guard unit to provide military funeral honors to West Virginia veterans.
Williams wrote the resolution on a sheet of notebook paper and sent it to Sen. Mike Woelfel, D-Cabell, to introduce. Woelfel said Friday it was his honor to introduce the resolution for the war hero.
Woelfel said many areas of the state do not have the manpower to provide military funeral rites to veterans.
According to the U.S. Department of Defense, by law, an honor guard detail for the burial of an eligible veteran consists of at least two members of the U.S. armed forces, and at least one member of the detail must be a representative from the deceased veteran’s service branch. The honor detail performs a ceremony that includes the playing of taps and the folding and presentation of the American flag to the next of kin.
Woelfel reported Williams was very pleased the resolution passed.
Williams, 97, was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroic actions taken during the U.S. assault on the heavily fortified island of Iwo Jima in February 1945. Armed with a flamethrower and exposed to near-constant enemy fire, Williams neutralized a series of concrete-reinforced Japanese machine gun positions that had stalled his company’s ability to move off the beach and advance on the enemy.
