Bill to establish monument to Medal of Honor recipients clears Congress

More than 40 million people have served in the armed forces since the Civil War, but fewer than 4,000 have been awarded the Medal of Honor, said Rep. Blake Moore, R-Utah, who helped lead a successful vote to establish a monument on the National Mall to commemorate the recipients.

The Hershel Woody Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act authorizes the placement of a permanent sculpture in the nation’s capital to commemorate individuals who have been awarded the military’s highest honor for valor in action.

The House unanimously passed the bill on Monday, after the Senate adopted its version in March without any dissent. The legislation is now headed to President Donald Trump for his signature.

“The monument will provide a national place of honor for Medal of Honor recipients and the values they represent — courage, sacrifice, integrity, commitment, patriotism and citizenship,” The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation, based in Texas, said on social media after the House vote.

Medal of Honor recipient Hershel “Woody” Williams salutes at the Military Bowl football game at Annapolis, Md., in December 2015. (Stars and Stripes)

There have been 3,555 Medal of Honor awards bestowed upon recipients since President Abraham Lincoln established the recognition in 1861, according to the Congressional Medal of Honor Society.

There are only 65 living recipients, according to the society.

The monument will bear the name of the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient, who died in 2022. Hershel “Woody” Williams was a 98-year-old Marine Corps veteran from West Virginia who fought as a 21-year-old corporal in the Battle of Iwo Jima in 1945.

Williams was born on a dairy farm in 1923 in Quiet Dell, W.Va., and grew up during the Great Depression. He enlisted in the military in 1943.

Williams fought with the 21st Marines, 3d Marine Division, and was credited with singlehandedly destroying the enemy’s machine gun bunkers as his unit came under intense fire.

“Covered by only four riflemen, he fought desperately for four hours under terrific enemy small-arms fire and repeatedly returned to his own lines to prepare demolition charges and obtain service flame throwers,” according to a biography of Williams on the Marine Corps website.

President Harry S. Truman congratulates Hershel “Woody” Williams, a Marine Corps reservist, on receiving the Medal of Honor for his actions during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II. (Melissa Karnath/Defense Department)

President Harry S. Truman presented him with the Medal of Honor in October 1945.

“Quick to volunteer his services when our tanks were maneuvering vainly to open a lane for the infantry through the network of reinforced concrete pillboxes, buried mines, and black volcanic sands, Cpl. Williams daringly went forward alone to attempt the reduction of devastating machine-gun fire from the unyielding positions,” his medal citation states.

After military service, Williams spent 33 years working for the Department of Veterans Affairs.

He was the last survivor of 472 servicemen from World War II who earned the Medal of Honor for their extraordinary bravery. He died on June 29, 2022, in Huntington, W.Va., at a veterans hospital named after him.

“I look up in the gallery and see some incredible Medal of Honor recipients. I think about what they’ve given to this country, and it truly takes my breath away. Then my mind goes back home to West Virginia and to the namesake of this bill, Woody Williams,” said Sen. Jim Justice, R.-W.Va., when the Senate unanimously adopted the legislation in March for siting the monument on the National Mall.

More than 25 million people visit the National Mall each year, Moore said prior to Monday’s House vote.

Rep. Jared Huffman, of California, the top Democrat on the House Natural Resources Committee, noted that Congress five years ago directed the establishment of a national tribute to Medal of Honor recipients.

This new bill represents the final step in that process by authorizing a permanent site for its placement, Huffman said prior to the House vote.

“The Medal of Honor inspires national pride, honors the memory of fallen heroes, and motivates future generations to embody the values of courage and honor,” said Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Ark., chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee.

The House bill directs the sculpture’s location within the Reserve, a restricted area between the U.S. Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, the White House and the Jefferson Memorial, Westerman said.

The goal is to symbolically link the Medal of Honor monument to Lincoln’s own legacy, as the award’s founder, according to the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation.

Hershel “Woody” Williams was the last surviving Medal of Honor recipient to have fought in World War II. He is shown in 2020 at the Marine Corps War Memorial, Arlington, Va. Williams died in 2022 at the age of 98. (Jason Kolela/U.S. Marine Corps)

The exact site within the Reserve is subject to a process with the National Park Service.

The National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation will direct the creation of the commemorative work. The foundation will launch a design competition after a specific site is selected.

“When the National Medal of Honor Monument opens on the National Mall, visitors will stand in the shadow of Lincoln and gaze upon a tribute to those who went above and beyond for their fellow Americans,” said Cory Crowley, the foundation’s vice president.

“It will be a place for reflection, gratitude, and inspiration – a place where every visitor, young and old, can leave resolved to live up to the values embodied by the medal itself: courage, sacrifice, integrity, commitment, patriotism and citizenship,” Crowley said.

The monument project will be fully funded through private donations raised by the foundation, at no cost to taxpayers, according to lawmakers.