WASHINGTON — Army Medic Waverly Woodson, who treated 200 wounded men on D-Day, was finally awarded the Distinguished Service Cross on Tuesday after a decadeslong push for recognition.
Woodson's widow and his son attended the ceremony in Washington hosted by Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen. Waverly Woodson died in 2005, after spending most of his post-military career living and working in Montgomery County.
As a 21-year-old Army medic, in June 1944, Woodson set broken limbs, conducted amputations and dispensed plasma to hundreds of soldiers, all while Woodson himself was injured.
After 30 hours treating fellow soldiers, dodging enemy fire from Nazi German forces, Woodson collapsed from his own injuries and blood loss.
When he returned home after World War II, Woodson was denied medals usually given to white men with similar military service, including the Combat Medic Badge.
It wasn't until 2023 that Woodson's widow, Joann, and his two children, accepted that award on his behalf.
Sen. Van Hollen spoke with WUSA9 in June of this year, when Woodson was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest honor for the Army.
"Waverly Woodson is an American hero," Van Hollen said in June. "Like many Black American heroes from World War II his heroism was never recognized properly."
Out of the 1.2 million Black Americans who served in World War II, none were given the Medal of Honor in its wake. In 1997, seven Black World War II troops were given that highest armed service honor.
Woodson's supporters have said that he, too, was worthy of the Medal of Honor. The Army Corporal had been considered and interviewed for the award in the '90s, but many of Woodson's personnel records had been destroyed in a 1973 fire at a military records facility.
Woodson, who later served in the Korean War, settled in Clarksburg, Md. in the 1950s, after his military service had ended.
After serving in the military, Woodson spent 28 years working for the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md. and the National Institutes of Health.
Joann Woodson and other members of Waverly Woodson's family still live in Clarksburg.