![]() ![]() He went to train in Camp Tyson, Tennessee – a place where the German POWs were allowed to go out to dinner in town but the Black soldiers weren't – and, from there, to New York City. Think of a Barrage Balloon as the anti-aircraft version of those big anti-ship mines that float on chains in the harbor. military were not available to Black soldiers, and, when World War II started for the United States in 1941, not only did "Wave" sign up, but so did his brother – becoming a famed Tuskegee Airman.Īs a combat medic, Wave was assigned to the all-Black 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, which sounds like a weird name for a military unit, but is actually pretty crucial – these guys' job was to fly low-altitude high-explosive hydrogen balloons with metal guide-wires so sharp they could shear the wing off a Nazi aircraft. He went to college, attended Officer Training School even though officer ranks in the U.S. Waverly Woodson was born in West Philadelphia on August 3rd, 1922, the son of a postal clerk. And the only thing that stopped him what when he literally collapsed from exhaustion. ![]() It is one of the noblest and most heroic things a person can do.Īnd, for 30 hours, beginning before dawn on June 6, 1944, Corporal Waverly Woodson did just this, repeatedly, with two Nazi shell fragments digging into his leg and back every step of the way. To run forward fearlessly into such a situation, without even a weapon to protect yourself – to risk your life to save the life of another in need – takes superhuman bravery, selflessness, and resolve. ![]() In the entire history of war, among all battlefields in human history, there are few more terrifying sounds than a wounded man screaming for a medic above a din of gunshots, the whizz of bullets, and the booming thuds of artillery rounds impacting the earth. In 30 hours of non-stop combat, zeroed in by Nazi mortar and machine gun fire ripping apart the sands with gunshots and artillery explosions, Corporal Woodson saved the lives of dozens of American soldiers during one of the most high-stakes and high-stress moments in human history, stitching up grievous wounds, administering first aid, triaging injuries, amputating limbs, and binding tourniquets onto gunshot wounds of men who were panicking, dying, scared, bleeding, and screaming. 76 years ago this Saturday, Corporal Waverly Woodson landed on the shores of Omaha Beach with the first wave of the D-Day invasion armed only with a bag of medical supplies and a couple dozen syringes of morphine. ![]()
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