Army Clinic Honors D-Day hero Waverly Woodson

Stephen Woodson spoke about his father at the dedication. Photo: Mark A. Kane

Great news! The US Army yesterday named the Rock Island Arsenal's health clinic in honor of Waverly B. Woodson Jr., an unsung hero of the D-Day invasion who served in a segregated unit. Like other deserving Black soldiers, he was not awarded the Medal of Honor, though senior officers nominated him. But yesterday the Army dedicated the Woodson Health Clinic, and son Stephen Woodson traveled to Illinois for the ceremony. A bipartisan bill is pending on Capitol Hill to award Woodson the Medal of Honor. Please support the bill! and the Woodson family’s Medal of Honor petition.

You can read all about Woodson’s story and his battalion in the book Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day’s Black Heroes.

Remembering Theolus "B" Wells

Theolus "B" Wells, one of the men featured in FORGOTTEN, passed away July 16. He was 96. Mr. Wells, 96, of Orangeburg, South Carolina, shared a foxhole on Utah Beach on D-Day. "I didn't have enough sense to be scared," he said, explaining that he was just a kid. During his time in Britain training for the invasion, he was often mistaken for the boxing champ Joe Louis. He didn't always correct the mistake, he said with a smile, especially if the person asking him happened to be a lady. You can read more about him here.

NPR's Here & Now features FORGOTTEN

The men of the HQ battery of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion pose in France, July 1944.

Thanks to NPR's Here & Now, recorded at WBUR in Boston, for inviting Linda Hervieux on the show to talk about FORGOTTEN: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, At Home and At War. They also published an excerpt from the book. Read it here.

Al Sharpton interviews Linda on MSNBC's PoliticsNation

Al Sharpton interviewed Linda Hervieux at MSNBC's studios in Rockefeller Center. 

Should D'Day's hero medic, Waverly Woodson, receive the Medal of Honor? That was question Al Sharpton explored on his MSNBC show PoliticsNation. Woodson, dubbed the invasion's No. 1 hero by the black press, was nominated for the nation's highest honor, though he never received it. His widow, Joann Woodson, eloquently made the case to Sharpton about her husband's heroism. Linda's Hervieux's book FORGOTTEN: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, At Home and At War, makes the case for Woodson to posthumously receive this important award.  See the interview here. 

Linda meets Tom Brokaw

Tom Brokaw with me and a copy of FORGOTTEN at the Miami International Book Fair

Linda was so very happy to meet Tom Brokaw at the Miami International Book Fair. His review of FORGOTTEN-- "utterly compelling" is on the cover -- opened many doors for Linda, a first-time author. It was a packed house at Miami Dade College to hear his inspiring talk about surviving his 2013 bout with blood cancer. His new book "A Lucky Life Interrupted: A Memoir of Hope" is excellent. 

Linda will be speaking Sunday at 12:30 as part of a three-person panel entitled "Black Heroes of the 20th Century." See all the details here.

Bob Herbert interviews Linda on Op-Ed TV

Veteran journalist and former New York Times columnist Bob Herbert invited Linda to speak about her new book FORGOTTEN: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, At Home and At War" on his show, Op-Ed. TV. It was Linda's first interview and it couldn't have gone better, thanks to Herbert. He was thoughtful and curious about the men and the history at the center of FORGOTTEN and and made it all very easy. Thanks, Bob!  Click here for video.