Medal of Honor with Ed Tracy January 24, 2008

Five foot six was too short for the Marines in the fall of 1942, and barely tall enough a few months later; on the island of Iwo Jima, with the American forces taking heavy casualties and unable to advance beyond the beach, five foot six was a towering height.

The Pritzker Military Library is proud to welcome Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams for a special interview with Ed Tracy on Thursday, January 24, 2008. This program is free and open to the public, with a question-and-answer session to follow the interview. The presentation and live webcast will begin at 6:00 p.m., and a reception for Library members will precede the event at 5:00 p.m. This event will be recorded for broadcast on WYCC Channel 20.

Like all of the Medal of Honor series, the story of “Woody” Williams is not one of planned, calculated bravery. His company had been decimated, with all six flamethrower men lost in two days of intense fighting in the volcanic ash of Iwo Jima. But when Williams saw the American flag rise over Mount Suribachi, he seized the moment. The twenty-one year old Acting Sergeant strapped on a flamethrower and weaved through enemy fire to destroy a machine-gun pillbox. Williams spent the next four hours racing from enemy position to position, wreaking havoc, stopping only to grab new flamethrowers as each ran out of fuel. At last, the enemy line was broken and the Marines were able to advance.

By the end of one of the bloodiest battles in American history, 262 of the 279 Marines in Williams’ company had been killed or seriously wounded. After leaving active duty, Williams became a lay minister in his church and a chaplain for his fellow Medal recipients. Today, he is Chaplain Emeritus of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

Medal of Honor with Ed Tracy has featured more than twenty interviews with our nation’s greatest military heroes and their riveting stories of courage under fire. Ten new interviews are planned for 2008, leading up to the 2009 Medal of Honor Convention in Chicago.

Seating for this event is limited, so reservations are strongly recommended. Call 312.587.0234 or email events@pritzkermilitarylibrary.net.

Official Website: http://www.pritzkermilitarylibrary.org/events