Honors for Waverly Woodson at Arlington National Cemetery

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.

Savannah Children's Choir pays tribute to the men of FORGOTTEN

Photo courtesy of Janet Singleton Wooten/Facebook 

I was so very touched to receive an email from Roger Moss, executive director of the Savannah (Ga.) Children's Choir, which performed a work at the June 6, D-Day ceremonies at the American Cemetery in Normandy paying tribute to the men of my book FORGOTTEN. Roger writes, "One of our children presented a report based on your book in order for the children to understand. Here are the lyrics. Thank you for your book." Thank you Roger, and the children in the choir! 

A SOLDIER'S HEART
Music: Wycliffe Gordon; Lyrics: Roger Moss

Brave and strong
Filled with gratefulness and song
Our hearts are full
Without worry or fear
All thanks to what you showed us here
For on these banks
With the light of battle in your eyes
You flew balloons of freedom in the skies
From many cities and sometimes kept apart
One thing in common, a soldier’s heart
A Soldier’s heart, a soldier’s spirit, a soldier’s soul
A heart whose beats are freedom songs
A spirit calls to right the wrongs
A soul that seeks justice and peace
Your children’s thanks will never cease
As we leave this place we’ll hold you near
Remembering all that we learned here
Our lives changed
Each day we’ll start
Living our lives with a soldier’s heart