With Woody’s passing this week, all of the  27 Marines and Navy servicemen who received Medals of Honor for their actions in that battle are now lost to history. 

Woody Williams met thousands of people every year. He touched lives without even realizing it.

He probably would not have remembered me.

But I will never forget him.

Long after he took his uniform off, he served his country and the people in it.

He led by example.

He led with grace.

He led with his heart, and his wit.

I remember how he double-timed it on our walk to a venue during an event he volunteered to attend. Snowball Express is an annual event that gathers the children of the fallen, along with a surviving parent or guardian, to a central location at Christmastime each year. 

First, it was in California, then Texas, and when Gary Sinise rolled Snowball Express into his foundation, it moved to Orlando.