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Sen. Jim Justice has successfully passed his first piece of legislation out of the U.S. Senate to help honor a famous West Virginia hero.
S.858 – The Hershel ‘Woody’ Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act – authorizes a monument on the National Mall in Washington, D.C. to honor Medal of Honor recipients.
The bill is named after the late Marine Corps veteran Hershel “Woody” Williams, who was the last surviving World War II Medal of Honor recipient. The Cabell County resident died in 2022 at age 98.
Speaking on the Senate floor Tuesday, Justice thanked his colleagues from the Democratic party for their support of the bill to honor the nation’s heroes and called for more collaboration.
“If we talked and we trusted and we absolutely told the truth to one another. There may just be passage of lots and lots and lots of stuff that we should be doing here,” he said.
Justice fell back on an old trope from his days as governor, the average voter Toby and Edith.
“Toby and Edith need us,” he said. “They need us in the worst way, I would say, some way, somehow we’ve got to tone down and stop a little bit of the food fight.”
Justice’s bill was passed unanimously in a block with a bill from Sen. Alex Padilla, D-CA.
“How about that guys? Now we’re rolling,” Justice said. “So at the end of the day I can go through this wonderful speech that I had, but really and truly, we’re there. God bless each and every one of those unbelievable heroes that are delivered for this great nation.”
The U.S. House of Representatives passed their own version of the bill last year. A previous version of the bill failed to pass in 2023.
This is the second monument planned in Washington to honor Williams. Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed an executive order on Veterans Day creating the Herschel Woody Williams Statue Commission to oversee the creation of a statue honoring Williams to be placed in the National Statuary Hall at the U.S. Capitol.
The statue of Williams will replace one of John Kenna, a Confederate veteran who represented West Virginia in the U.S. House and Senate. Congress has allowed states to replace their statues in the Statuary Hall since 2000.