During a visit to Lee Intermediate School Friday afternoon, Medal of Honor recipients took the question of why soldiers never smile in their photos.
Cpl. Herschel “Woody” Williams, a Marine who once stormed Iwo Jima, rose to answer.
“Military service, for most of us, is a very serious business,” he said. “That doesn’t mean that we don’t smile; we do. But we want people to understand that when we take on the obligation of defending America, it is a very serious business. Many of our fellow Marines, sailors, soldiers and airmen never got to go home. And that is always weighing on our mind because we’d become very close to each other in the armed forces.”
Williams said this carried over to how they related to their own families when returning to the United States.
“I had lots of brothers,” he said. “But I never got as close to any one of them as I did with the Marines that I served with. Because my life depended on him, and his life depended on me.”
The question-and-answer portion was near the end of the service at the school, which included patriotic performances from student choirs and a rendition of “God Bless America” from the audience. The Lee Intermediate Flag Team presented flag colors and escorted recipients to the stage. Dee Dee Godi presented the veterans a check for $311, the result of the “Pennies for Patriots” fundraiser benefiting the Medal of Honor Host City Program. Williams was presented with a framed, sketched portrait of himself that will finally rest on the school’s Wall of Honor.
During his own input, Army Lt. Harold Fritz explained to the students that by the terms of the earth, a country’s freedom costs dedication, bloodshed and sacrifice.
“If we could sit across the table from our adversary, whoever that adversary may be, and reach a peaceful negotiation rather than looking through a bomb sight or a rifle sight or tank gun, I would embrace that way close to my heart,” said Fritz, a Vietnam veteran. “But unfortunately, the way the world is today, I don’t think any of us will see that in our lifetime.”
The visit concluded with a moment at a memorial cemetery erected on the campus, observed with prayer. Earlier in the afternoon, Gainesville ISD administrator Vance Wells told the students only one in 10,000 soldiers are Medal of Honor winners. He added that their teachers and the entire local education system that oversees them have been influenced by the strength of character demonstrated by these veterans and their repeated visits.
“Some of the characteristics they have, they rub off on you in a hurry,” said Wells, who’s gotten to know some of the recipients. “And I’ll tell you I’ve felt very fortunate to call some of these gentlemen my friend.”
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