It will be 15 Medal of Honor recipients. On this I think we can all agree.
Hershel Williams is one of them. One word, wow.
Williams' next and final campaign was at the
Iwo Jima, where he distinguished himself with actions "above and beyond the call of duty" – for which he would be awarded the Medal of Honor. On February 21, 1945, he landed on the beach with the 1st Battalion, 21st Marines. Williams, by then a
corporal, distinguished himself two days later when American tanks, trying to open a lane for infantry, encountered a network of reinforced concrete
pillboxes. Williams went forward alone with his 70-pound (32 kg) flamethrower to attempt the reduction of devastating
machine gun fire from the unyielding positions.
Covered by only four riflemen, he fought for four hours under terrific enemy
small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain serviced flame throwers. He returned to the front, frequently to the rear of hostile emplacements, to wipe out one position after another. At one point, a wisp of smoke alerted him to the air vent of a Japanese bunker, and he approached close enough to put the nozzle of his flamethrower through the hole, killing the occupants. On another occasion, he was charged by enemy riflemen who attempted to stop him with
bayonets and he killed them with a burst of flame from his weapon.
