Military Medical Clinic in Illinois Named in his Honor in 2022
An unarmed medic’s courageous actions on June 6, 1944, D-Day—the day the Allies invaded Western Europe in World War II—helped save the lives of hundreds of soldiers.
U.S. Army medic Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. in an official photo from before he was deployed to Europe. (Courtesy, U.S. Army)
U.S. Army Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr., 21, assigned to the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, First Army, attended to scores of wounded on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France, while seriously wounded himself. First Army troops landed on Omaha and Utah Beaches, with First Army commanding all American ground forces during the invasion.
Woodson has received several honors and recognition for his actions, and just this week, it was announced that he will be awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest honor for valor.
Selflessness in Action
Coming ashore in the third wave of assault, Woodson’s landing craft tank took heavy fire, hit a naval mine, lost power, and drifted to shore.
According to U.S. Army historian Kevin Hymel, who covered Woodson’s posthumous awards ceremony October 11, 2023, at Arlington National Ceremonyopens Arlingtomcemetary.mil, Woodson was gravely wounded by mortar shrapnel tearing through his groin and back. He had his wounds tended to quickly and then waded through chest-high water onto the beach, where he and other medics set up a field-dressing station under a rocky tank roll embankment so they could begin treating wounded soldiers.
Woodson set broken limbs, removed bullets, amputated one soldier’s right foot, mended gaping wounds, transfused blood, and dispensed plasma. All the while, his physical condition worsened from his hastily patched wounds.
Pinned on the beach by intense small arm and artillery fire, Woodson worked continuously for 30 hours before collapsing from his injuries, pain, and blood loss and evacuated to a nearby hospital ship, according to Hymel’s historical account.
During those hours, he treated scores of wounded and dying men—some accounts put the number at about 200 service members—and even pulled ashore and resuscitated three drowning British soldiers after he was finally relieved of duty.
Woodson survived his injuries and the war. He later studied medical technology and worked for 28 years at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, and the National Institutes of Health.