Waverly Bernard Woodson Jr. (1922-2005)

October 07, 2017 
/ Contributed By: Robert Fikes

Waverly Bernard Woodson

Waverly Bernard Woodson

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World War II hero Waverly B. โ€œWoodyโ€ Woodson was born August 3, 1922, in Philadelphia,ย Pennsylvania, the son of Waverly B. Woodson Sr., a postal carrier. The historical record reveals nothing about his mother. A pre-med student at Lincoln Universityย when World War II started, Waverly left during his sophomore year to enlist in theย U.S. Armyย on December 15, 1942.

Despite completing Officer Candidate School in Anti-Aircraft Artillery (AAA), he was informed there were no positions for Blacks as officers in AAA. He was instead steered into medic training and was assigned to the raciallyย segregated 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, a Black unit that specialized in strategically positioning balloons in battle areas to destroy enemy aircraft.

On D-Day, June 6, 1944, the transport boat (LCT) that took him and others of his battalion to Omaha Beach was blasted byย German fire, and Woodson, like many other soldiers, suffered injuries. Ignoring his own shrapnel wounds, Woodson made it ashore, where he set up a medical station and, for the next 30 hours, dragged maimed soldiers from the killing zones to receive treatment. Woodson bandaged wounds, gave injections, handled blood plasma, extracted bullets, performed an amputation, and even resuscitated four British drowning victims. After three days aboard a hospital ship where his own wounds were treated, he asked to be sent back to the battlefield.

After the news media learned of his selfless actions upon his return home, he was interviewed on the radio and questioned by newspaper reporters. The Pittsburgh Courierย hailed him โ€œNo. 1 Invasion Hero,โ€ andย Stars and Stripes, the official U.S. military publication, declared him one of the medics who โ€œcovered themselves in glory on D-Day.โ€ The Courier and other Black newspapers said he deserved the nationโ€™s highest military award: the Medal of Honor.

In the racially segregated armed forces of the United States of that era, Black soldiers were demonstrably less likely to receive coveted recognitions of valor. Woodson was a case in point. Despite Woodsonโ€™s media attention, and though there were white officers, such as General John H.C. Lee, who believed Woodson should receive the Medal of Honor, he was instead awarded the Bronze Star (fourth-highest honor) and a Purple Heart.

Woodson returned to Lincoln University and graduated in 1948. Later, he earned a medical technology degree from the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia and returned to active duty during the Korean War. Woodson married Joann Katharyne Snowden in 1952, and the couple had three children. Woodson then began a career at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, as director of the morgue. While there, he taught anatomy classes. In 1990, Woodson retired as supervisor in the Clinical Pathology Department at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. Waverly Bernard Woodson died on August 12, 2005, at the age of 83. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

About the Author

Author Profile

Robert Fikes, Jr., a 1970 graduate of Tuskegee University, earned graduate degrees in modern European history and library science at the University of Minnesota. Retired since 2017, he worked as a reference librarian at San Diego State University where he was also a subject bibliographer for Africana Studies, European, American, Middle Eastern, and African history. Fikes has published numerous journal articles, essays, encyclopedia entries, newspaper and magazine contributions, bibliographies, and several print and online books pertaining to history, art, and literature.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Fikes, R. (2017, October 07). Waverly Bernard Woodson Jr. (1922-2005). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/woodson-waverly-bernard-jr-1922-2005/

Source of the Author's Information:

Linda Hervieux, Forgotten: The Untold Story of D-Dayโ€™s Black Heroes, at Home and at War (Harper Collins, 2015); โ€œWoodson, Waverly โ€“ Enclosed Docs sent to Armyโ€ at http://stateside.digitalnewsroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Woodson-Waverly-Enclosed-Docs-Sent-to-Army-11.5.15.-No-PR.pdf; John Chambers, โ€œLincoln University Honors a World War II Heroโ€ at http://www.chestercounty.com/2015/03/13/64967/lincoln-university-honors-a-world-war-ii-hero.

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