I appreciate it when folks recommend people to research for the Patrick Pioneers column. Recently, Michael Belcher suggested that I do a story on Joel Gardner Williams and shortly after that, I was pleased to talk with Onie Vaughn about her brother, Sparrell Dillard Williams. Along with Leonard Elwood Williams, I knew these two Williams men from Patrick County were lost to WWII. I had to wonder if and how they were all related.
We will start with their familial connections and then share their tragic stories. Joel Gardner Williams was born in Meadows of Dan, Virginia on the 27th of August 1921. Joel was the son of Joel P. and Berta Gardner Williams, the grandson of Bill and Lucy Cock Williams, the great-grandson of Jacob and Lucinda Handy Williams, and the 2x great grandson of original settlers to Patrick County, John B. and Sally Helms Williams. Joel had four sisters, Mayetta, Mary Gene, Cora Grace Foley, and Lucy Elizabeth Smith.
Sparrell Dillard Williams was born on April 9th, 1922, in Premier, West Virginia to Benjamin and Annie Delilah Hall Williams. Sparrell was the grandson of Charlie and Luella Light Williams, the great-grandson of John Preston Williams, Sr. and his first wife Lucinda Roberson Williams, the 2x great grandson of Elder Sparrell Dickerson and Onie Branch Williams, and the 3x great grandson of settlers John B. and Sally Helms Williams.
Sparrell was the oldest child of Benjamin and Annie Hall Williams, followed by Mildred Pauline, Vera Onie, Betty Jean, Nettie Edna, Lucy Elva, Charlie Dodd, and Joyce Marie Williams. Their father, Benjamin, had contracted black lung from working in the coal mines in West Virginia, so after Mildred Pauline was born, the family returned home to the Dobyns community where the remaining children were born.
Leonard Elwood Williams was born to Louis Gravely “Doc” and Hattie Jane Martin Williams on the third of January 1922. Leonard was the grandson of John Preston Williams, Sr. and his third wife, Mittie Tecoa Gilbert Williams, the great-grandson of Elder Sparrell and Onie Branch Williams, and the 2x great grandson of Patrick County settlers, John B. and Sally Helms Williams. So, we now have a connection between the three young men.
Leonard was the middle child born to his parents: his two older brothers were Gilbert T. and Francis L. Williams, and his two younger brothers were Marshall and Lloyd G. Williams. Francis L. Williams also served in the US Army during WWII with Unit 310th Medical Battalion, Company C.; he enlisted on the 24th of July 1942 and was discharged on the 28th of December 1944. Tragically, Francis was hit by a car and killed on the 19th of August 1945.
According to writings from Joel Gardner William’s sister, the late Cora Grace Foley, Joel joined the United States Air Force in October of 1942 and at the time of his death, had achieved the rank of Staff Sergeant. Joel served on a B-24 Liberator bomber nicknamed “Ready, Willing and Able,” which disappeared in a thunderstorm March 5, 1944, over Papua New Guinea. The bomber had taken off with a squadron at 11:17 p.m. from Nadzab, Papua New Guinea, on its’ 12th mission to bomb Japanese targets in the Hansa Bay area of Papua New Guinea. No one heard from “Ready, Willing and Able” again. The aircraft and crew disappeared in heavy thunderstorms, no radio transmissions were ever received, and subsequent searches did not locate them.
According to the Arlington Cemetery website, U.S. Army grave registration teams conducted wide searches in New Guinea without success. Forty-three years later, European tourists hiking over a mountain range in the Madang province of New Guinea saw the tail of an old bomber sticking up in the brush. The tail number was that of “Ready, Willing and Able.” Although officials were certain the bomber’s tail was that of the missing aircraft, the Army waited until it was certain the remains of all the crewmembers were in the wreckage.
On December 7, 2001, the 10-man crew of the “Ready, Willing, and Able” bomber were laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. The remains of SSGT Joel Gardner Williams and the other Army Air Corps soldiers of his crew were interred together in one casket and buried at Section 60: Site 8017. Joel was twenty-two years old.
Onie Vaughn shared the following information about her oldest brother, “Private First-Class Sparrell Dillard Williams was inducted on December 16th, 1942, into the Third Armored Division. He earned the Normandy Campaign Battle Star, Purple Heart, Service Lapel Button, Victory Medal, European African Middle Eastern Campaign with two Bronze Service Stars, Expert Rifleman, Good Conduct Medal, and American Campaign Medal.”
Onie remembers well the day her family received the notification that the older brother she adored had been seriously wounded in the Normandy Invasion. Onie said that she and her siblings were helping her parents who were cutting the tops out of their corn crop when a man brought a telegram. Thirteen-year-old Onie recalls her mother reading the telegram and falling to the ground in anguish; she also remembers after receiving the news, her mother’s hair turned white overnight. The telegram stated that Sparrell had been shot through his shoulder and the shrapnel had entered his lungs.
Onie said that Sparrell spent months in the Veteran’s Hospital in Oteen, North Carolina and the family tried to visit him as often as possible. Although Sparrell was honorably discharged on August 18th, 1945, and was alive when the Japanese surrendered, the war killed him just the same.
Sparrell had married Betty Gilbert, the daughter of Mallie and Bessie Dalton Gilbert of the Wayside Community, on the 2nd of March 1945. Sparrell and Betty were blessed with the birth of a little boy, John Dillard Williams, on the 31st of March 1946.
Less than three months later, Sparrell went into the hospital for the last time; spending from June 20th, 1946, until his passing over five months later on December 1st, 1946, at the Oteen Veteran’s Hospital. Sparrell was twenty-four years old. It would seem things could not get any worse, but they did. Sparrell and Betty’s little boy, John Dillard was diagnosed with acute lymphatic leukemia at eight months old (around the same time his father Sparrell passed) and died two months later on February 9th, 1947.
Leonard Elwood Williams was a Coxswain in the United States Navy. There were a few service records for Leonard: on the 31st of December 1942, he was listed on the muster roll for the US Naval Air Station at Jacksonville, Florida; on the 20th of June 1944, he was at the amphibious training base at Fort Pierce, Florida, called the “11th Beach Battalion”; on the 13th of December 1944, he was on the muster roll for the USS Henrico and was departing from Boston, Massachusetts to “the sea.” On the 19th of March 1945, he was on a Landing Ship Tank (LST 946) departing from the Leyte Gulf to “secret orders.” Leonard was killed in action seven days later on Okinawa Island on March 26th, 1945. According to his cousin, Ella Hall, Leonard’s mother received a letter from Leonard’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Joseph B. McCabe, praising Leonard and lamenting his death. Leonard was twenty-three years old.
Thank you so much to Onie Williams Vaughn, Michael Belcher, Ella Hall, and the late Cora Grace Foley for information on these brave, young, Patrick County heroes. Woody may be reached at rockcastlecreek1@gmail.com or (276) 692-9626.
