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Williams, James Elliot, BMC.
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Contact Info
Home Town Fort Mill, South Carolina
Last Address DARLINGTON, SC
Date of Passing Oct 13, 1999
Location of Interment Florence National Cemetery (VA) - Florence, South Carolina
Wall/Plot Coordinates Section F, Site 177
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Additional Information
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In the history of the United States Navy, only seven men have earned all of the top three valor awards: Medal of Honor, Navy Cross and Silver Star. Six were World War II officers, including one aviator. The seventh was James Elliott "Willy" William - considered the most decorated enlisted man in the history of the Navy.
Post Navy
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In 1977, he was made an honorary Chief Petty Officer.Â
Chief Petty Officer Williams retired from active service in 1967 and was employed with the Wackenhut Corporation. In 1969, he was appointed U. S. Marshal for the District of South Carolina, where he served until May 1977.
He was then transferred to Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, Glynco, Georgia as an instructor and National Armorer. He was called back to South Carolina in July 1979 under court appointment as U. S. Marshal for South Carolina and served in that position until April 1980.
He was then transferred to U. S. Marshal Service Headquarters, Washington, D. C. as Programs Manager, Health and Safety and In-District Training Officer, where he served until his retirement from the U. S. Marshals Service with the grade of GS-18.
He was married to the former Elaine Weaver. They had five children and seven grandchildren. He is now buried at the Florence National Cemetery in Florence, South Carolina.
A Navy guided missile destroyer- USS James E. Williams (DDG-95) was named and christened in his honor on June 28, 2003, at Pascagoula, Mississippi.
Early Life
James Elliott Williams (13 November 1930 â?? 13 October 1999) was born in Fort Mill, South Carolina and moved two months later with his parents to Darlington, South Carolina where he spent his early childhood and youth. He attended the local schools and graduated from St. John's high school. He was a sailor of the United States Navy during the 1950s and 1960s. He is, also, the most highly decorated enlisted man in the history of the U.S. Navy.
In the Navy
In July 1947, at the age of 16, he entered the United States Navy where he served for twenty years, retiring in April 1967. During those twenty years he served in both the Korean and Vietnam War.
In Vietnam, the petty officer was assigned to the River Patrol Force whose mission was to intercept Viet Cong arms shipments on the waterways of South Vietnam's Mekong Delta. On 31 October 1966, Boatswain's Mate 1st Class Williams, patrol commander for his boat, River Patrol Boat 105, and another PBR was searching for Viet Cong guerrillas operating in an isolated area of the Mekong Delta. Suddenly, Communist guerrillas manning two sampans opened fire on the Americans. When Williams and his men neutralized one boat crew, the other one escaped into a nearby canal. The PBR sailors gave chase and soon found themselves in a beehive of enemy activity as Viet Cong guerrillas opened up with rocket propelled grenades and small arms against the Americans from fortified river bank positions.
Against overwhelming odds, several times Williams led his PBRs against concentrations of enemy junks and sampans. He also called for support from the heavily armed UH-1B Huey helicopters of Navy Helicopter Attack (Light) Squadron 3, the "Seawolves." When that help arrived, he kicked off another attack in the failing light, cleverly turning on his boats' searchlights to illuminate enemy forces and positions. As a result of the three-hour battle, the American naval force killed numerous Viet Cong guerrillas, destroyed over fifty vessels, and disrupted a major enemy logistic operation. BM1 Williams not only displayed great courage under fire, but a keen understanding of how his sailors, weapons, and equipment could be used to achieve victory.
On 14 May 1968, President Lyndon Johnson, in the name of Congress, presented Williams the Medal of Honor. His other awards include the Navy Cross, Silver Star (with one gold award star), the Legion of Merit (with Valor Device), the Navy and Marine Corps Medal with gold star, Bronze Star Medal with two gold stars, Vietnam Cross of Gallantry with Gold Star and Palm, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy and Marine Corps Presidential Unit Citation with one service star, Purple Heart with two gold stars, Vietnam Service Medal with bronze service star, Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, National Defense Service Medal with bronze service star, United Nations Service Medal, Korean Service Medal with two bronze service stars, Korean Presidential Unit Citation, Korean War Service Medal, and the Navy Good Conduct Medal with four bronze service stars.
James E. Williams, who as a patrol-boat commander in the Vietnam War won the Medal of Honor and became one of the most highly decorated sailors in Navy history, died on Wednesday at a hospital in Florence, S.C. He was 68.
Mr. Williams, who lived in Palm Coast, Fla., suffered a heart attack while visiting family members, his wife, Elaine, said.
In the spring of 1966, Petty Officer Williams was a year away from retiring, having served 19 years as a Navy enlisted man. But he volunteered for combat in Vietnam.
''He had experience in small boats, and he knew he could lead young Americans in combat,'' recalled Rear Adm. Morton Toole, retired, who commanded the patrol-boat division in which Petty Officer Williams served.
Overseeing patrols in the Mekong Delta from April 1966 to April 1967, Petty Officer Williams won the Medal of Honor, the Navy Cross, two Silver Stars and the Legion of Merit, three Bronze Stars and the Navy Commendation Medal. He also received three Purple Hearts and was twice awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescue operations under fire.
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One of Petty Officer Williams's gunners, Rubin Binder, recalled being ''19 years old and scared to death,'' only to be steadied by the veteran boatswain's mate.
''He was like a rock,'' Mr. Binder said. ''When he said he was going to do something, he did it.''
A petty officer would normally take charge of a single patrol boat. But Mr. Williams was given responsibility for two-boat patrols and the authority to call in helicopter and artillery assistance because, his former commanding officer, Fred McDavitt, said, ''Williams was superior from the very beginning.''
James Elliott Williams, a native of Rock Hill, S.C., first saw combat in the Korean War. He was assigned to a destroyer but was detached to take raiding parties into North Korea on small boats.
In the Vietnam War, he received the Medal of Honor for what Mr. Binder remembers as ''an incredible firefight'' the night of Oct. 31, 1966.
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When Petty Officer Williams's two-boat patrol was attacked by two sampans, he ordered return fire that killed the crew of one enemy boat and sent the other fleeing to an inlet. In continuing the counterattack, he exposed himself to fire from snipers along the river bank and from a large concentration of enemy boats that joined the battle.
When darkness arrived, he ordered his patrol boats' searchlights turned on to illuminate the enemy positions, although that made his own boats easier targets, and he moved close to shore to press the attack. The two American boats destroyed 65 enemy boats and inflicted many casualties in a battle that lasted three hours and left Petty Officer Williams with a wound near his right kidney.
He was presented with the Medal of Honor by President Lyndon B. Johnson on May 14, 1968, at a Pentagon ceremony. A burly man, 5-foot-8 and 210 pounds, Mr. Williams had a physique that impressed the President, who asked, ''How did you get that big neck?''
Mr. Williams was appointed United States Marshal for South Carolina in 1969 by President Richard M. Nixon and served more than a decade in the Marshals Service.
In addition to his wife, he is survived by three sons, James Jr., of Darlington, S.C.; Steven, of Dorchester, S.C., and Charles, of Charlotte, N.C.; two daughters, Debbie Clark of Palm Coast and Gail Patterson of Florence, and seven grandchildren.
In a statement issued after Mr. Williams's death, President Clinton praised him for ''extraordinary bravery in combat.''
Mr. Williams did not covet publicity. He turned down offers for a movie based on his Medal of Honor exploits, feeling that too much dramatic license would be taken. As he said in an interview with The Post and Courier newspaper of Charleston, S.C., in 1990: ''If you're not going to tell the truth about that battle, then it ain't worth telling.''
