Bryant
Homer Womack
May 12, 1931 – Mar 12, 1952
HOSPITAL TO BE DEDICATED
TO MEMORY OF N. C. HERO
(Clipping from a
Rutherfordton, N. C., newspaper, regarding the dedication, on 3 August 1958, of
the new 8-million-dollar hospital at Fort Bragg, N. C., to Pfc. Bryant H.
Womack.)
Rutherfordton, N. C.
(Special)--A fitting tribute will be paid today to a Rutherford County farm boy
who gave his life to help save others.
A nine-story hospital at
Fort Bragg will be dedicated today. The 500bed institution will bear the name of
PFC Bryant Womack, son of Mr. and Mrs. George W. Womack of Rutherfordton Route
4.
Pfc. Womack died in Korea
March 12, 1952, two months before his 21st birthday.
A medical airman with a
combat unit of the Army's famed 25th Division, Bryant's patrol encountered heavy
enemy mortar and machine gun fire. American casualties were heavy. But in spite
of intense fire and without regard for his own safety, Bryant ran from one
wounded man to another, rendering medical aid.
A mortar shell ripped deep into his arm. He remained at his post and gave first aid with his
remaining good hand. A second shell hit the heroic private in his side. Although
unable to move, he refused to be evacuated until all the other wounded soldiers
were given help. He
died minutes later.
Pfc. Womack was awarded
this nation's highest military award, the Congressional Medal of Honor.
An Army base street and a firing range in Korea bear his name.
A street at Fort Sam Houston, Tex., has been named in his honor. And now, the Army's most modern hospital at Fort Bragg
will stand as a monument to a Rutherford farm boy who paid the supreme sacrifice
for his country.
Top Army officials, North
Carolina Governor Luther Hodges, and other dignitaries will be present for the
dedication. So will Mr. and Mrs. Womack, Bryant's sister, Rachel, and his
brothers, Charles, Eugene and Lester.
Lester, a Military police corporal in Germany is being flown home for the
services.
Once again, Mrs. Womack
will hear words of tribute to her son and will again hear why he was
posthumously presented.the Congressional Medal of Honor.
But she will remember
Bryant not as a hero, but as a child on the Womack farm. She'll remember how he
loved dogs and hunting and fishing. How he always went to church on Sunday. How
we was always so neat and wellgroomed.
Copyright 1959 by William Perry Johnson
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