HERSHEL 'WOODY' WILLIAMS

In February 1945, as US Marines struggled to overcome lwo Jima’s relentless Japanese defenders, a 21-year-old corporal silenced seven pillboxes to help turn the tide of the battle

- ALEX BOWERS

Hershel Woodrow Williams' mind went as black as the beaches he had just stormed. Known affectionately as 'Woody', standing at a modest 168cm (5ft 6in) tall and having reached drinking age just few months prior, he struck an unlikely figure to be thrust into the fray at a time of immense peril. It was 23 February 1945, and American forces were faltering on the infamous Japanese island of Iwo Jima.

A series of reinforced concrete pillboxes stood in the way of securing the first of two main airfields a short distance from the shore, each individual position staunchly defended by troops prepared to die for their cause. The Marines needed to fight fire with fire, leaving Williams, armed with his flamethrower and accompanied by five comrades, with the chance to stand tall.

The odds had rarely been in his favour, yet he had defied them at almost every turn.

Born in Quiet Dell, West Virginia, weighing 1.6kg (3¹2lb), few had expected the infant boy to live. He nevertheless survived despite having already lost several siblings amid the flu pandemic. Years later, his father succumbed to a heart attack and his widowed mother was forced to look after the family dairy farm by herself. Williams would go on to work numerous jobs, including a role with the Civilian Conservation Corps in which he

was engaged on a Montana-based project when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. While personally compelled to serve like countless other fellow Americans, Williams had no wish to join his brothers in the US Army, believing that the brown uniforms were ugly; instead, he had his sights on the dress blue of the Marine Corps.