Preserving The Oral HistorIES of Combat Veterans

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Hershel Williams

WWII | 1st Battalion, 21st Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division

On a secured Guadalcanal, Marine Corporal Hershel Williams was selected to be a flamethrower and demolition operator. When the weapon was unpacked, it was a big mystery, but through trial and error, an effective method of use was devised. The results were deadly. (6:18)
His gunnery sergeant was named Albert Daniel Hemphill. Hershel Williams remembers him as a "China Marine." They were a different breed and this story about a drunken leave in China comes straight from the source. (4:44)
The flamethrowers were useless on Guam. There were no caves and pillboxes to speak of, just deep jungle. Hershel Williams set them aside after two days and got an M-1. Also, there were frogs, really big frogs. (4:18)
What did Hershel Williams learn from his first combat experience on the island of Guam? His answer is thoughtful, but he is not so sure what to think about the Japanese code of honor that leads to Banzai charges and suicidal attacks. (6:06)
Hershel had seen a diagram aboard ship of the island of Iwo Jima; the basic layout and where the airfield was. Coming ashore the third day, his unit was stalled by a group of pillboxes blocking the way. His commander asked him if he could take some of them out with the flamethrower. What he did then resulted in him being awarded the Medal of Honor. (7:50)
Hershel Williams was wounded, but he refused to move to the rear on Iwo Jima. Once he saw that his friend Vernon Waters had been killed, there was no way. (2:59)
He was preparing to cross the airfield on Iwo Jima when Hershel Williams heard Marines yelling. He looked up and joined in what would become an iconic moment, the raising of the flag on Mount Suribachi. (2:03)
He had been designated to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions on Iwo Jima, but Hershel Williams had never read the reports or seen the citation. Since he had no memory of that fateful day, when he stood before the president, he was still unsure why he was there. (8:51)
When Hershel Williams returned to Iwo Jima decades after the fierce battle, he carried a special flag taken as a souvenir. There was one Japanese visitor on the trip, a wheelchair bound veteran who had been captured there, disgracing himself by surviving. Could he help return the flag to a suitable place? (11:20)
There are plenty of memorials to the brave service members who sacrificed their lives to win the war. But Hershel Williams was always bothered that there was little recognition of the families who sacrificed their loved ones. So he began to correct the situation. (4:13)