Forgotten

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Honors for Waverly Woodson at Arlington National Cemetery

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Joann Woodson receives the Bronze Star and Combat Medic Badge at Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 11, 2023. Photo: Department of Defense

In an extraordinary ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Oct. 11, the First Army honored the late Sgt. Waverly Woodson for heroics on Omaha Beach that have long gone unrecognized.

Two retired First Army generals presented Joann Woodson with the Medic Combat Badge and a Bronze Star, tributes her late husband earned for his service on D-Day, June 6, 1944. Despite his own serious injuries, Woodson treated hundreds of wounded, saving countless lives, until he collapsed 30 hours after landing. Click here to read more about the event.

Joann Woodson and her family are hoping this another step toward the Medal of Honor, our nation’s top award for valor. Woodson was nominated for the award in 1944 but he did not receive it. No African American soldiers did during World War II. “I hope I live long enough to see this Medal of Honor,” Joann Woodson said. “It’s been a long time.”

Click here to read more about the battle to award Woodson the Medal of Honor.

Click here to read more about Waverly Woodson’s battalion, D-Day’s only Black combat unit.

 

Watch FORGOTTEN on YouTube

FORGOTTEN on YouTube!

Missed Linda Hervieux’s online event with National D-Day Memorial’s Lunchbox Lecture Series?

Click here to watch the video.

Thanks to John Long and the team in Bedford, Virginia, for featuring FORGOTTEN!

Linda Hervieux speaks on March 2, 2022, as part of the National D-Day Memorial’s online series.

Rowan University plays host to Forgotten

RowanU.jpeg

Many thanks to Dr. John T. Mills and Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, for inviting Linda Hervieux and Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes to kick off their Black History Month series. Pictured with Linda is from right to left, Mills, Prof. Lola Ames, and G, a student who sprung for the book, something few starving students do anywhere.

Forgotten in the Guardian

Opinion page of the Guardian, December 31, 2016

Thanks to Hugh Muir and the Guardian for a prominent mention of Forgotten: The Untold Story of D'Day's Black Heroes. Muir recounts the extraordinary treatment extended to African-American soldiers in wartime Britain. After the Brexit vote, hate crimes surged in Britain. He writes, "At times more tense and fearful in our history we have been more willing to show kindness to people of difference. We have been better than this." Click here to read his column. 

NPR's Here & Now features FORGOTTEN

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

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.

Linda meets Tom Brokaw

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

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.