How One Senator Cut Through Washington Gridlock to Honor America’s Heroes

Clear Facts

• Sen. Jim Justice (R-W.Va.) successfully passed legislation to place a Medal of Honor monument on the National Mall, honoring WWII hero Hershel “Woody” Williams
• The bill passed unanimously in the Senate after Justice personally negotiated with Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) moments before a potential floor confrontation
• Williams, the last surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient who died in 2022 at age 98, earned his honor for extraordinary heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima

In a Senate paralyzed by partisan warfare, Sen. Jim Justice found a way to honor America’s greatest heroes by doing something revolutionary in Washington: actually talking to the other side.

The West Virginia Republican’s successful push for a National Mall monument honoring Medal of Honor recipients represents his first legislative victory as a senator. The measure awaits President Trump’s signature this week.

“I’ve never seen anything like this, never in my life seen anything to where it is, it is so preposterous,” Justice told Fox News Digital in a Saturday interview. “You know, no one could make any sense out of what in the world is going on a lot of times.”

“I don’t know why we don’t talk to one another. I don’t know why we’re disrespectful to one other.”

The Williams National Medal of Honor Monument Location Act directs placement of the monument at a prominent location within the Reserve on the National Mall. It specifically honors Williams, a West Virginia native who received the Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism during the Battle of Iwo Jima, while commemorating all Medal of Honor recipients.

The House approved the measure on Aug. 31 after the Senate passed it unanimously in March. But that unanimous vote only came after Justice refused to give up despite repeated partisan roadblocks.

“I mean, we had it shot down,” he said. “But I just wouldn’t turn it loose.”

“And the reason I wouldn’t turn loose is because it was just real simple: I mean Woody’s unbelievable, or was unbelievable, that’s for sure. But all these Medal of Honor recipients and everything, the ones we’ve lost and all those that are still living, they are so deserving.”

Justice described how the measure became trapped in the same partisan warfare that has paralyzed the Senate on nearly every issue. Democrats initially blocked it simply because a Republican introduced it.

“All we managed to do is keep a food fight going to where – because it was a Republican thing or Republican Jim Justice introducing – well, I’m telling you, if I’m a Democrat, by God, we’re not gonna let that happen and everything,” he said. “And then it’s just, it’s the same thing on both sides. Way, way, way too much for a guy that’s got white hair and wants to try to get things done.”

The breakthrough came moments before Justice planned to take the matter to the Senate floor with four Medal of Honor recipients present. He encountered Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) just outside the chamber.

“I was about three feet from going into the Senate chambers,” Justice recalled. “And we sat down right there, you know, kind of on the steps and really just started talking.”

Justice and Heinrich serve together on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. The West Virginia senator said he had developed a personal relationship with Heinrich over the years.

“I said, Martin, I don’t understand. I mean, how in the world can we do this? And I said, Martin, you know, I’m getting ready to go on the floor, and it’s not going to be good. It’s not gonna be good for you. It’s not going to good for a lot of folks and everything. A lot of people are going to be upset. A lot of people are going to be really sad.”

Justice appealed directly to Heinrich to find common ground.

“And I just said, Martin, I don’t know any way to tell it other than just to tell you the truth. And you’re a good guy. And I don’t know why in the world we just can’t talk with one another.”

Heinrich’s response revealed the depth of Senate dysfunction.

“And he looked right at me, and he said, you know, people here don’t talk to one another. And I really appreciate you doing that, and I’m not going to object.”

The measure moved forward immediately.

“In three minutes, boom, boom, boom, done,” Justice said. “It was an amazing moment really, and like I said, Martin’s a good guy, and I just think that maybe we could all learn from that just a little bit.”

“Now we’re going to honor, you know, another great, unbelievable, courageous group of people, and it’s way, way, way overdue.”

Justice urged his colleagues to apply the same approach to other deadlocked issues, calling current Senate behavior “childishness.”

“Why in the world would you carry on with just childishness, and in all fairness, that’s what it is,” Justice said. “You can’t make sense of it. There’s no point in us trying to do that. This is Romper Room behavior. And if there’s anything in the world I could do, I wish to goodness that I could tell everybody, you know let’s grow up a lot. Let’s absolutely grow up and let’s behave.”

The senator doesn’t expect structural Senate problems to be fixed easily. He pointed to the 60-vote threshold for overcoming filibusters and argued that lawmakers have little incentive to change a system that protects the political status quo.

“You’ve got a lot of people there that have never had a job. They’ve been there forever, and they’ve never made a payroll.”

Justice recalled his former chief of staff Brian Abraham explaining the fundamental problem.

“I said, ‘guys, we’re really missing something here because we can really get stuff done here and everything.’ And he looked right at me, and he said, ‘you don’t understand, do you?'”

“People here don’t wanna get something done. All they want to do is just keep it going. Round and round it goes. Fundraiser, fundraiser, fundraiser. Round and around it goes, get reelected, get re-elected.”

For Justice, the monument fight carried special meaning because Williams embodied the opposite of Washington’s self-interest.

“Woody Williams was all about us. Woody Williams was never about Woody Williams. And he just was an amazing man. I got to know him really well, and we became really good friends.”

Williams’ Medal of Honor citation stems from his actions on Iwo Jima, where under intense enemy fire he used a flamethrower to destroy Japanese positions and help clear a path for advancing Marines. He was the last surviving WWII Medal of Honor recipient before his death in 2022 at age 98.

Justice said the monument’s symbolism extends beyond Williams into future generations.

“Now, I’m going to take them there,” Justice said of his future descendants. “I’m going to show them this and tell them, maybe I was only a grain of sand, but I had something to do with this. And I really stood up hard for it and everything. We got it done.”

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