diff --git a/spring-ws-security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java b/spring-ws-security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java
index 63e2044d..440e79e1 100755
--- a/spring-ws-security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java
+++ b/spring-ws-security/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jSecurityInterceptor.java
@@ -82,6 +82,7 @@ import org.springframework.ws.soap.security.wss4j.callback.UsernameTokenPrincipa
  *
  * @author Tareq Abed Rabbo
  * @author Arjen Poutsma
+ * @author Greg Turnquist
  * @see <a href="http://ws.apache.org/wss4j/">Apache WSS4J</a>
  * @since 1.5.0
  */
@@ -137,6 +138,9 @@ public class Wss4jSecurityInterceptor extends AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor impl
 
     private boolean securementUseDerivedKey;
 
+    // To maintain same behavior as default, this flag is set to true
+    private boolean removeSecurityHeader = true;
+
     public void setSecurementActions(String securementActions) {
         this.securementActions = securementActions;
         securementActionsVector = new ArrayList<Integer>();
@@ -502,7 +506,15 @@ public class Wss4jSecurityInterceptor extends AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor impl
 		this.samlIssuer = samlIssuer;
 	}
 
-	@Override
+    public boolean getRemoveSecurityHeader() {
+        return removeSecurityHeader;
+    }
+
+    public void setRemoveSecurityHeader(boolean removeSecurityHeader) {
+        this.removeSecurityHeader = removeSecurityHeader;
+    }
+
+    @Override
 	public void afterPropertiesSet() throws Exception {
         Assert.isTrue(validationActions != null || securementActions != null,
                 "validationActions or securementActions are required");
@@ -628,7 +640,9 @@ public class Wss4jSecurityInterceptor extends AbstractWsSecurityInterceptor impl
 
         soapMessage.setDocument(envelopeAsDocument);
 
-        soapMessage.getEnvelope().getHeader().removeHeaderElement(WS_SECURITY_NAME);
+        if (this.getRemoveSecurityHeader()) {
+            soapMessage.getEnvelope().getHeader().removeHeaderElement(WS_SECURITY_NAME);
+        }
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/spring-ws-security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java b/spring-ws-security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java
index ccf51a75..a3c3ecd0 100755
--- a/spring-ws-security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java
+++ b/spring-ws-security/src/test/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/security/wss4j/Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase.java
@@ -21,10 +21,10 @@ import static org.junit.Assert.*;
 import java.io.ByteArrayOutputStream;
 import java.util.Iterator;
 import java.util.Properties;
-
 import javax.xml.namespace.QName;
 
 import org.junit.Test;
+
 import org.springframework.ws.context.DefaultMessageContext;
 import org.springframework.ws.context.MessageContext;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapHeaderElement;
@@ -32,9 +32,15 @@ import org.springframework.ws.soap.SoapMessage;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.security.WsSecurityValidationException;
 import org.springframework.ws.soap.security.wss4j.callback.SimplePasswordValidationCallbackHandler;
 
+/**
+ * @author Arjen Poutsma
+ * @author Tareq Abedrabbo
+ * @author Greg Turnquist
+ */
 public abstract class Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase extends Wss4jTestCase {
 
     private Wss4jSecurityInterceptor interceptor;
+    private Wss4jSecurityInterceptor interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader;
 
     @Override
     protected void onSetup() throws Exception {
@@ -48,6 +54,14 @@ public abstract class Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase extends Wss4jTestCas
         callbackHandler.setUsers(users);
         interceptor.setValidationCallbackHandler(callbackHandler);
         interceptor.afterPropertiesSet();
+
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader = new Wss4jSecurityInterceptor();
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.setValidateRequest(true);
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.setSecureResponse(true);
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.setValidationActions("UsernameToken");
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.setValidationCallbackHandler(callbackHandler);
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.setRemoveSecurityHeader(false);
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.afterPropertiesSet();
     }
     
     @Test
@@ -75,6 +89,31 @@ public abstract class Wss4jMessageInterceptorHeaderTestCase extends Wss4jTestCas
 
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testValidateUsernameTokenPlainTextButKeepSecurityHeader() throws Exception {
+        SoapMessage message = loadSoap11Message("usernameTokenPlainTextWithHeaders-soap.xml");
+        MessageContext messageContext = new DefaultMessageContext(message, getSoap11MessageFactory());
+        interceptorThatKeepsSecurityHeader.validateMessage(message, messageContext);
+        Object result = getMessage(message);
+        assertNotNull("No result returned", result);
+
+        boolean foundSecurityHeader = false;
+        for (Iterator<SoapHeaderElement> i = message.getEnvelope().getHeader().examineAllHeaderElements(); i.hasNext();) {
+            SoapHeaderElement element = i.next();
+            QName name = element.getName();
+            if (name.getNamespaceURI()
+                    .equals("http://docs.oasis-open.org/wss/2004/01/oasis-200401-wss-wssecurity-secext-1.0.xsd")) {
+                foundSecurityHeader = true;
+            }
+
+        }
+        assertTrue(foundSecurityHeader);
+
+        assertXpathExists("header1 not found", "/SOAP-ENV:Envelope/SOAP-ENV:Header/header1", getDocument(message));
+        assertXpathExists("header2 not found", "/SOAP-ENV:Envelope/SOAP-ENV:Header/header2", getDocument(message));
+
+    }
+
     @Test(expected=WsSecurityValidationException.class)
     public void testEmptySecurityHeader() throws Exception {
         SoapMessage message = loadSoap11Message("emptySecurityHeader-soap.xml");