The Medic of Omaha Beach – Waverly Woodson’s 30 Hours of Hell

The facts, then. On June 6, 1944, a 21-year-old Black medic named Waverly Woodson stepped onto Omaha Beach. His landing craft had been hit by German fire. Shrapnel tore through his groin and back. He bandaged his own wounds and waded into chest-high water toward the shore. He did not stop for 30 hours.

Woodson was born on August 3, 1922, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a pre-med student at Lincoln University when World War II started. He enlisted in the Army on December 15, 1942. He completed Officer Candidate School in Anti-Aircraft Artillery. He was told there were no positions for Black officers. He was steered into medic training and assigned to the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, the only Black combat unit to participate in the D-Day landings.

On Omaha Beach, Woodson set up a field-dressing station under a rocky embankment. He worked through the pain of his wounds. He set broken limbs. He removed bullets. He dispensed blood plasma. He amputated a soldier’s right foot. He treated over 200 wounded men in 30 hours. When he was finally relieved, he saw three British soldiers drowning in the surf. He pulled them ashore and gave them CPR. He later asked to be sent back to the battlefield. The Army refused.

The Denied Medal of Honour. Woodson received the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. His commanding officer nominated him for the Distinguished Service Cross. General John C. H. Lee upgraded the recommendation to the Medal of Honor. It never came. A memo found at the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library noted that Woodson, a “Negro from Philadelphia,” had been recommended for “a suitable award” that the President could give personally. No records explain why the Medal of Honor was denied. Not one Black soldier received the Medal of Honor during World War II.

The Long Fight for Recognition. Woodson returned to Lincoln University after the war and graduated in 1950. He re-enlisted and served in the Korean War. He worked for 28 years at the Naval Medical Center in Bethesda and the National Institutes of Health. He died on August 12, 2005, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

His widow, Joann Woodson, fought for decades to see her husband recognized. In 2015, she approached Sen. Chris Van Hollen. In 2020, bipartisan legislation was introduced to posthumously award Woodson the Medal of Honor. The Army cited missing records—destroyed in the 1973 fire at the National Personnel Records Center—as a barrier.

In 2024, First Army historian Kevin Braafladt placed a World War II-era Distinguished Service Cross in the sand at Omaha Beach, where Woodson had saved so many lives. The medal was later presented to Joann Woodson, then 95. She told lawmakers: “History has to be as correct as it possibly can be, and this is one way to get it corrected.”

The campaign for the Medal of Honour continues. But Woodson’s legacy is already secure. He was the medic who saved 200 men while bleeding himself. He was the hero history almost forgot.

Sources:

• Army.mil – “Waverly Woodson: a legacy of distinguished service” (2024)
• DVIDS – “D-Day Medic Waverly Woodson Saved Lives at Normandy Beach” (2024)
• AP News – “Bill would give Black WWII medic posthumous Medal of Honor” (2020)
• AUSA – “WWII Medic Receives Overdue Distinguished Service Cross” (2024)
• ABC News – “‘Negro’ D-Day Hero Overlooked for Medal of Honor” (2015)
• NPR – “Senators Push For Medal Of Honor For Late Black Medic Who Saved Lives At Normandy” (2020)
• BlackPast.org – “Waverly Bernard Woodson Jr. (1922-2005)”
• Liberation Route Europe – “Waverly Woodson Junior”