I am pausing to remember William McWhorter today, a 26 year old private who earned the Medal of Honor posthumously OTD 79 years ago, when he smothered a Japanese grenade with his body, saving the lives of two fellow Americans, William Brooks and George Panzer.

McWhorter was from Liberty, South Carolina. He was with the 32nd Infantry Division in 1944 when they landed on Leyte, the first step in Douglas MacArthur’s planned liberation of the Philippines.

On December 5, McWhorter and two other troops were manning a machine gun position while repelling a Japanese attack.

As Brooks later related: “Just as they quit, I saw an object come flying through the air and land inside our position.  As I realized it was a block of TNT with a fuse attached, McWhorter rushed to it and picked it up.  There was no time to do anything with it and he hugged it to his chest and bent over and turned away from me.  As he did so it exploded.  He had deliberately given his life for mine.”

Brooks went on to have four children and at least six grandchildren, and I am sure he was eternally grateful to McWhorter. Please honor and remember William McWhorter, a great American leader.