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.

Waverly Woodson Medal of Honor bill

Exciting news! Sen. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland has taken the fight to win a Medal of Honor for Waverly Woodson to the next level. Van Hollen has teamed up with a coalition of bipartisan legislators to introduce a bill in the Senate and House calling on the President to award Woodson our nation’s highest honor.

Van Hollen announced the news Sept. 8 at a Zoom press conference attended by Joann Woodson, Woodson’s wife, and his legislative partners. This is looking good!

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Check out these links to the story:

The Washington Post

ABC News

NPR

320th spotlight: Allen Jay Coles, Jr.

Many thanks to Allen Coles 3rd of Columbia, South Carolina, for his email telling me about his late father, who was a member of the battalion chronicled in my book, FORGOTTEN. Sgt. Allen Jay Coles, Jr., waited decades to tell his children that he had landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. A native of Brooklyn, he was one of the first to be drafted into service. He joked that it was the only lottery he ever "won." He was good friends with Wilson Monk, another 320th vet I was lucky to meet and who became like a second father to me. Allen sent me a photo of his parents the Monks at Café Zanzibar in New York, all of them looking young and gorgeous. Both men married their sweethearts while on furlough in December 1944, before they were shipped to the Pacific. Theirs was the only African-American unit during World War II to serve in both Europe and Asia. You can read more about Allen Coles here and Wilson Monk here.

Sgt. Allen Jay Coles, Jr., landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. 

Rowan University plays host to Forgotten

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.

Remembering Oscar Davis Coaston

After the publication of FORGOTTEN: The Untold Story of D-Day's Black Heroes, Earl Coaston wrote to this website about his father, who was not in the book. For decades after landing in the killing field that was Omaha Beach, Coaston rarely spoke of the war. “Certainly the terror and horror of the war played a part," his son says, "but for him to give that part of himself to a country that did not believe that he deserved the respect due any human being, let alone a war veteran with two Bronze Stars, ate at him for the rest of his life.” You can read his full story here. See all the men of FORGOTTEN (so far) here. If you know a man who should be in this gallery, please contact Linda Hervieux here. 

Oscar Davis Coaston 

WWII hero Carl Clark, 100, to be buried at Arlington

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Good news! WWII Navy hero Carl Clark, 100, will be buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Mr. Clark helped saved his ship and many shipmates after a Japanese kamikaze attack but was denied proper recognition. Like Waverly Woodson, the Army Medal of Honor nominee I have written about extensively on this page, Mr. Clark was a victim of the US military's policy of denying top honors to African Americans. He finally got a Commendation Medal-- and a thank you -- in 2012. I'll always be thankful to Ricki Stevenson, Robin Bates and Constance Bryan for bringing us together last March for a talk at UC Berkeley. Dapper in his Navy uniform -- it still fit him perfectly -- he was still going strong and was a compelling speaker. He also wrote a memoir. Click here to read more about Mr. Clark.

Forgotten at the National African American Museum of History & Culture

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Journalist and author Wil Haygood moderates a discussion on Nov. 9 with Linda at the National African American Museum of History & Culture in Washington, DC.

In the shadow of the Washington Monument, the National African American Museum of History & Culture is a stunning addition to the  National Mall in Washington, DC. Thanks to an invitation from director Lonnie Bunch, Linda was thrilled to speak there on Nov. 9. Even better, the journalist and author Wil Haygood ("The Butler," "Showdown") moderated a program delving into the issues in FORGOTTEN: Jim Crow America, segregation, the systematic mistreatment of African Americans before and after WW2. Many thanks to Will and everyone who turned out the day after a very long and grueling election night! 

72 years after D-Day, African-Americans are still fighting for the Medal of Honor

Among the thousands of soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, there were two young men whose stories were remarkably similar. They both raced along the shooting gallery at the water's edge pulling the wounded to safety. One was injured during the landing. The other was not. One received the Medal of Honor. The other did not. Read about their stories HERE in The Daily Beast.

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Waverly Woodson was nominated for the Medal of Honor. He never received it. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. Photo: Linda Hervieux