First bill from Justice cleared for president’s desk to honor Woody Williams, Medal of Honor recipients
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CHARLESTON - U.S. Sen. Jim Justice’s first bill to land on the desk of President Donald Trump will pay tribute to the late Marine Corps veteran Woody Williams and other Congressional Medal of Honor recipients with their own monument on the National Mall.
The U.S. House of Representatives passed S. 858, the "Hershel 'Woody’ Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act," in a voice vote Monday afternoon. The proposed law now heads to the White House for the president’s approval.
"Today is an absolutely wonderful day in my book, that’s all there is to it," said Justice, R-W.Va., in a video message posted to social media Monday evening. "Our Medal of Honor bill, now it’s going over the finish line with the House signing off. We’re going to finally have it on the National Mall. This is my first bill; the first bill that I ever put up, and I could never be more proud."
Introduced by Justice on March 5, 2025, the bill authorizes the creation of a new monument in Washington, D.C., honoring recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. It permits the National Medal of Honor Museum Foundation to bypass certain land-use restrictions to establish this monument within the National Mall’s Reserve. While the act grants a specific geographic exception, the project must still adhere to the standard regulations defined by the Commemorative Works Act.
Justice named the bill for Williams, who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his actions on Iwo Jima in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and spent the remainder of his life working on behalf of veterans and Gold Star families whose loved ones died while serving in the military.
Williams died in June 2025 at the VA Medical Center in Huntington, a facility that bears his name. He was 98.
The Congressional Medal of Honor is the nation’s highest military decoration for members of the U.S. Armed Forces, awarded for extraordinary acts of valor and bravery. According to the Medal of Honor Historical Society, there have been 3,552 of the medals awarded. The awards are presented to the honorees or posthumously to their families by the president.
The Hershel "Woody" Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act passed the Senate on March 25, with Justice describing pumping his arms in the air to celebrate.
"I tried really hard, and we didn’t get there for a while, but not long after that - because I am the most impatient guy in town, we got it across the finish line," Justice said. "And when we got it across the finish line, this is exactly what I did: I stood up just like that. What an incredible day that was."
Both U.S. Reps. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., and Carol Miller, R-W.Va., supported passage of S. 585 and released statements after Monday's vote.
"Woody Williams ... is an American hero and legendary West Virginian. It is fitting that the bill creating the National Medal of Honor Monument bears his name," Moore said. "We each owe so much to the courage, patriotism, and grit of men like Woody and the other amazing recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor. I was proud to support this bill to give the recipients of our nation's highest military decoration their proper place of honor on the national mall alongside great statesmen like Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington."
"Woody was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserves during the Battle of Iwo Jima in World War II and spent the remainder of his life advocating fiercely for veterans and Gold Star families across the country," Miller said. "I can think of no one more deserving of this honor."
"We had to get it through the House ... and have the president sign this, and then we’re done," Justice said. "We should be so proud in this country and so thankful. What an incredible day."
(Adams can be contacted at sadams@newsandsentinel.com)