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Black medic wounded on D-Day to be honored for treating dozens of troops_我的网站

一 |     BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- An attorney for the mother of Alabama teen Natalee Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba, said a possible plea deal with a suspect in an extortion case is contingent upon his disclosing details about her death.Joran van der Sloot, long considered the chief suspect in Holloway's 2005 disappearance, is scheduled to appear in federal court Wednesday morning in Birmingham, Alabama, for a plea and sentencing hearing for a case in which he is accused of trying to extort $250,000 from Holloway's mother in 2010 to reveal the location of her body. John Q. Kelly, an attorney who represented Holloway's mother during the alleged extortion, told The Associated Press Tuesday that a potential plea deal is contingent upon him revealing information about what happened to Holloway. Kelly first made the comments on NBC's “Today” show. Emails sent to van der Sloot’s attorney and a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors were not immediately returned.Holloway's family has long sought answers about her disappearance. But those answers have proven elusive. Van der Sloot has given a variety of conflicting descriptions over the years about what happened, which would likely put raised scrutiny on any new account. Her family is expected to be in court Wednesday.Holloway went missing during a high school graduation trip with classmates to Aruba. The Alabama teen was last seen leaving a bar with van der Sloot, a student at an international school. The mysterious disappearance sparked years of news coverage and true-crime podcasts, books and movies. Van der Sloot was identified as a main suspect and was detained for questioning but no charges were filed in the case.A judge declared Holloway dead but her body has never been found. Prosecutors in the Alabama case said van der Sloot contacted Kelly in 2010 and asked for $250,000 from Beth Holloway to reveal the location of her daughter's remains. He later agreed to accept $25,000 to disclose the location, and asked for the other $225,000 once the remains were recovered. Van der Sloot said that Holloway was buried in the gravel under the foundation of a house, but later admitted that was untrue, FBI Agent William K. Bryan wrote in a 2010 sworn statement filed in the case. Van der Sloot moved from Aruba to Peru before he could be arrested in the extortion case. Van der Sloot was extradited to Alabama earlier this year from Peru, where he’s serving a 28-year sentence after confessing to killing a Peruvian woman in 2010. Peru’s government allowed van der Sloot’s temporary extradition to the U.S. to face charges there. Under a 2001 treaty between the countries, a suspect can be temporarily extradited to face trial in the other country, but must “be returned” after judicial proceedings are concluded.。    WASHINGTON -- An African American combat medic who was wounded while landing on Omaha Beach during the D-Day invasion but went on to tend to dozens of troops will be posthumously honored Wednesday in a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. His family and supporters continue to push for an even higher recognition they believe his heroism is owed.Cpl. Waverly B. Woodson Jr. was a 21-year-old Army medic assigned to the only African American combat unit to land in Normandy on June 6, 1944. His landing craft took heavy fire and he was wounded before even getting to the beach, but for the next 30 hours he treated 200 wounded men while under intense small arms and artillery fire before collapsing from his injuries and blood loss, according to accounts of his service.Woodson, who was born in Philadelphia and lived in Maryland with his wife, died in 2005. He spoke to The Associated Press in 1994 about his harrowing journey.“The tide brought us in, and that’s when the 88s hit us,” he said of the German 88mm guns. “They were murder. Of our 26 Navy personnel there was only one left. They raked the whole top of the ship and killed all the crew. Then they started with the mortar shells.”He survived and was awarded the Bronze Star, but by the time the award was finalized he was in Hawaii preparing for the invasion of Japan so there was little in the way of ceremony. And he was never awarded a Combat Medic Badge, which denotes that a medic has been in combat. To rectify that wrong, his former unit applied for Woodson to receive the badge and it was approved in August.His widow, Joann, and his son, Steve, will be presented with both honors during the ceremony at Arlington, where Woodson is buried.“He truly was a hero on Omaha Beach," said Capt. Kevin Braafladt, the historian for First Army. Woodson's unit, the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion, was part of First Army during the invasion of Nazi-occupied France. The battalion was responsible for setting up explosive-rigged balloons to deter enemy planes.At a time when the U.S. military was still segregated by race, about 2,000 African American troops are believed to have taken part in the invasion. The balloon battalion was the only African American combat unit.Woodson's supporters have been pushing for years to see him awarded the Medal of Honor for his exploits during the invasion that was key to turning the tide in the war. Although 1.2 million Black Americans served in the military during World War II, none was among the original recipients of the Medal of Honor awarded in the conflict. The Army commissioned a study in the early 1990s to analyze whether Black troops had been unjustly overlooked during an era of widespread racism and segregation in the military. Ultimately, seven Black World War II troops were awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997.At the time, Woodson's case was part of the study and the authors interviewed him. But, they wrote, his decoration case file couldn't be found and his personnel records destroyed in a 1973 fire at a military records facility. Braafladt said the U.S. military made a conscious effort to reduce paperwork after the war, and that the fire at a military records facility in Missouri also destroyed countless documents.His supporters aren't giving up. First Army and Braafladt have been on a mission to document Woodson's actions on D-Day in hopes of getting the Medal of Honor for him. Braafladt is convinced — “100%” — that Woodson was recommended at the time of the war for the Medal of Honor.One of the pieces of information pointing to that conclusion is a memo talking about how Woodson had been recommended for the Distinguished Service Cross but a top general decided the recommendation should be for the Medal of Honor instead.Braafladt first heard about Woodson's case around 2020 and has been obsessively searching for documents that will help make Woodson's case. He has not yet found the Medal of Honor recommendation letter, but along the way he has found documents he thinks buttress the case. Just last week he received the text describing Woodson's Bronze Star citation.“I’m one document away from getting an answer here and righting a wrong.” he said.U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, where Woodson's widow now lives, has also been pushing since 2015 to have Woodson honored with the Medal of Honor, and has introduced legislation to that effect in Congress.Woodson's son said in a telephone interview that his father rarely talked about World War II until late in his life and then only in bits and pieces. The family would like to see him honored with the Medal of Honor not only to shine a spotlight on his heroism but to highlight the efforts of Woodson's unit and all Black troops. Steve Woodson said he'd be disappointed if his father does not get the Medal of Honor, but he's also grateful for all the recognition and honors that have come so far. “If he gets it, that’s fabulous. If he doesn’t, we will just continue to put his legacy forward,” he said.。

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