what he will soon it will honor at the u.s. capitol. he was the last living medal of honor recipient from world war ii before his death last month at the age of 98. mr. williams received the medal of honor from president. truman in 1945 for his heroic actions at the battle of iwo jima. here's what west virginia senator joe manchin had to say about mr. williams and attribute from the senate floor. >> mr. president, i read today to speak on the life and legacy of my dear friend, the last surviving world war ii medal of honor recipient with anyone before your gallery and recognizing all of them i want to say thank you, thank you for being here.

thank you for sharing woody all those years with me, shelley and oliver west virginians. he respected woody's wishes of respecting all veterans and pay respects to our nation's last living world war ii honor recipient. enter the family went to say this you are the legacy he was most proud of, all of you. and honor to welcome senator l-uppercase-letter . both of you which is woody's legacy still here. and thank you. but we are going to respect his wishes basically all veterans families pay respect to the nation's last living world war ii medal of honor recipient.in spent 77 years since woody williams quieted the enemy machine guns on this sands of iwo jima. he sadly gone the love of his family his friends and face

above all. general george patton once said it's foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. rather we should thank god that such men lived. when he lived every as if you're given a second chance we are all better for b it. and boy did woody left for a long time. his grandson pass along woody's recipe i hope i got all this right. he would say when asked, for example centerville figure, and it has to have the mother is another cloudy stuff in the bottom of the bottle, mixed with local honey and 6 ounces of warm water. you can act impure maple syrup for extra flavoring if you would like. and i've been drinking every morning since the early 1960s. about three years ago i got printed on a business card because he said he was so tired of reciting every time someone asked. and he handed out quite a few of

those cardson too. he cited when his grandson graduated from marine boot camp and nobody else was meant to be a marine he said by taking that oath you can take my life but you cannot take my country or my freedom. you cannot take my country or my freedom. that is all about. going to send her money was for his grandson, chad. we must amend what would he taught us for the few things that we can load. it is onlyh to the support of others that we can truly reach our goals. so look to your left and look to your right, we are all a part of his legacy. and it is up to us to care for. in the words of woody collins is greater than i. one of what he's last wishes is lying in state at the isis capitol. it was out for himself. we spoke about this years ago it was not for himself.

make sure we represent all medal of honor recipients from world war ii. and they were only 472. the full or exhibiting. the west virginia farmboy in honor of u.s. capitol rotunda, linked to risk the sacrifices of a generation of heroes. that is what we do to marvin what he can rest in peace knowing his mission is complete. i will miss woody because he was my wing man. it may i say this, maybe were all his man and that's what delivered for a particular project for everyone around him. everyone setting up there he had projects for you. get projects for me and projects for shelley. he made sure we understood exactly what we done. he meant what he does have a

project for everyone he would magically produce napkins and sharpies in his projects. typically, thank the project watch and d listen. not always unused napkins but, but they always became works of art. [laughter] when he came to me a few years ago and said thatai we needed. he was west virginia. and across the whole country. so we start a motorcycle ride for fallen service euros. we did six of those rides and when he was in his 90s. he was there every time in that slingshot giving only hand. and he stayed right with this prerace hundreds of thousands of dollars the goldstar families. some those funds as you know went into monuments across the nation. including the 1 cent to the capitol when honored also with of the race. i know many things what he and i worked out to get up if you multiply that by all the other people he worked with you will fully realize woody's incredible impact on west virginia and the entire country.

that is why he got a ship of the va hospital national guard reserve center named after him. most recently, because of what our va medical centers were saved. his testimony ended the air w commission which would have turned three of our fort west virginia va medical centers into urgent care centers as well as countless others across the n nation. and really into s rural america but rural veterans would not have been served. every veteran in the nation can thank woody for saving the va hospital. this thinking as governor and help so much as we stood at the for veterans affairs. the family member advisory group. for 11 to clean up the clarksburg health get the first trials, can fisher, karen pittman and i was over. it was that quick. it was unbelievable. and i know it gained so much

solace to the family when he got to spend a few moments that beautiful place it was very, very special. woody has been every step of the way for making family and other seat during government shutdowns. that was the time he said we have to do something. shutdown given the opportunity the families need. that is mccall ken fisher. we all became very good friends. went to the fisher house, ken fisher was the leader of that. that's how that all began. ken was happy to step up. he the first. children's day was august the first. he was instrumental in that. also amazing so many people from across the country, each of our states that we represent is freight delivered body have so many good things to say about wendy. because his legacy runs further than just west virginia as you know. i did not realize the magnitude of the impact until i traveled

with him to california. and also in virginia when his ship was commissioned and it was present. and when that happens, the brass all the way down anson's on the ships. the marines learned about being a marine because of studying woody williams. and i did not realize the impact that he had. it was unbelievable. all these people comment to me telling me the impact that he had on them and how much they admired him. but i am always remembering how they study woody williams in the marine corps. i never forgot them. let me tell you, i know you know him as our friend. you know him c is represent your state. let me tell you how he represented the marine corps. that is the man we study. so when marines learn how to be marines they learned about what he williams pretty always knew west virginia had to treasure wendy. but i did not know that he was

futheir treasure also. i will forever be thankful that what he and his family gave me the gift of spending time with him in huntington are able to put them sunday morning before he passed. what was such a special day and you would not think anything was really that much different. and i said woody i think someone wants to speak to you. it was dennis mcdonagh was the secretary of the va and he wanted to speak to woody. what it was so thrilled. it's a great conversation. it's true formor of woody he sad mr. secretary got to tell you a couple of things. he went into exactly that needed to be done. it was classic. and dennis called after words and explain the conversation. he was so tickled. it tickled what he also to be able to have that conversation.

he was just full of life. he was still full of life and he was still full of ambition to get things accomplished. in his final days as quick as a whip. he was calm, selfless and concern for his veterans and families in all of you. he was concerned about everybody. he was ready at the moment i will charge the rest of my days to be able to. spend that little bit of time at the end there. but in true woody action he gave me arching orders that date. hen said woody's last wishes was closing the committal shelter in the veteran cemetery. senator kavanaugh got the same order i got. do this it will then pray the families will be protected from the elements when paying their final respects. it is something that shouldd be done in every shelter and every va burial ground and every va

cemetery. but of course the project was bigger than west virginia for what he will probably lead to national pride i can promise you this we are going to gete that done but the commitment we make to what he and it will happen. as president biden set up on what is passing i don't throw the word hero around lightly. but i'm going to use it i'll use it for granted woody williams. heroism, like it did for what he can come in allre different shas and sizes. woody williams was far more that just a hero. it was the greatest of the greatest generation and a model for futureer generations. from what i know woody's greatest wish was for all of us to continue o this mission, to t back to each other and to love our country. and his grandson brian said last week i have the project he wants each of you to work on. a couple of them actually and today i will ask each of you to too. if goldstar family is in your area traveling more than our

tour the gold start family tomorrow are traveling too far. your project is to get a project working in your backyard. second, if you have a monument in your area your project is to ensure the legacy of families. the comfort of the project. become of the assisted living unit recentlyer never forget th. as an legacy of woody williams and all our veterans of world war ii this evening and tomorrow, let us all do our best to continue woody's mission. a government rests the soul of our dear friend, our leader, our national hero woody williams and i yield the floor. : : :

procedure and the point at which life begins. the committee will come to order. without objection, the committee and the chair is authorized to declare recess on the committee at any time. i now recognize myself for an