correct way to prefill struts form fields?

OK so we are using struts, and have obviously chosen an incorrect approach to prefilling form fields, and I am trying to figure out the correct approach.

Here is what we are currently doing, which from what I have read is *bad*:

<html:text property="myValue1" value="<%= myObject.getMyValue1() %>">
<html:text property="myValue2" value="<%= myObject.getMyValue2() %>">

* I want to use struts forms
* I want to use struts validation of the form inputs
* I have several input fields on the form
* I have an object with the same attributes as the fields in my form
* I am persisting the values in the object, so that they can be recalled when they are needed for editing

Here is what we are trying to accomplish:

When the user opens the form, I would like the fields for both "value1" and "value2" to be prefilled with the values myObject.myValue1 and myObject.myValue2 respectively.

When the user submits the form, I would like both fields to go through struts validation.

If the user has made changes to both value1 and value2, but only value2 does not validate, then I would like to have the form redisplayed with both value1 and value2 prefilled with the values the user just entered (which have not yet be saved, of course, since the form failed validation), NOT the values that were in the form when they first opened it. This works fine for the field which fails validation, but not for the field which does not, which is reset to the original value, even if the user changed it to an acceptable value.

Now that I have researched, I see that this is because I am using the value property of the html:text tag, and the value I put in here is overriding the values that the user enters when the form resets after failing validation.

It doesn't seem that just removing the value portion of the tag and leaving the property portion of the tag does the trick, so if this is the solution, I must be doing something else wrong. If this is the correct approach, how do the values from the object get associated with the properties for the form fields?

So, now I need to know what is the *correct* way to handle this and get the results I want? It seems like the solution must be simpler than I am trying to make it, but I'm not sure.