diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index 61fb69ac..ffb2ad56 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -4,6 +4,10 @@
 	a directory is specified.  This fixes Savannah bug #45383 reported
 	by Mike Frysinger, and also Savannah bug #27839 (which is an echo
 	from Debian bug #551717 reported by Paul Wise).
+	* src/files.c (load_history): Remove an earlier attempt to make M-W
+	work at startup.  It no longer worked because the assigned value gets
+	overwritten by a later initialization of 'last_search' to the empty
+	string.  Found through the use of valgrind.
 
 2015-07-17  Mike Frysinger  <vapier@gentoo.org>
 	* src/browser.c (browser_refresh): Use the proper type (off_t) for
diff --git a/src/files.c b/src/files.c
index 4c491fd1..3c417b7f 100644
--- a/src/files.c
+++ b/src/files.c
@@ -3023,8 +3023,6 @@ void load_history(void)
 
 	    fclose(hist);
 	    free(line);
-	    if (search_history->prev != NULL)
-		last_search = mallocstrcpy(NULL, search_history->prev->data);
 	}
 	free(nanohist);
 	free(legacyhist);