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Published Monday, November 10, 2008 in Local

'Greatest Generation' series: J.T. Williams

By Alex McRae

The Newnan Times-Herald

One year ago, the news staff of The Times-Herald began trying to locate, interview and write the stories of all surviving World War II veterans living in Coweta County.

We began the project partly because we knew their stories would delight our readers. But we also realized that World War II veterans were passing away nationwide at a rate of more than 1,200 per day -- and that if we didn't tell these stories now, many would be lost forever.

We started by asking for help. We solicited names from friends, family members and total strangers. We received a great assist from Dick Stender and G.D. Hendrix, who work closely with local veterans. Newnan High School history teachers Steve Quesinberry and Frank Henderson shared the names of the veterans they had invited to visit the classes they teach about World War II and the Vietnam War.

Our initial list of known veterans contained 39 names. As the series began running, more poured in. Before the project ended, our list had grown to more than 150 names.

We tried our best to tell each story. Some veterans declined our invitation to talk. We respected those decisions. Others were ill or otherwise incapable of participating. Through interviews with veterans and their families we managed to gather the stories of 125 men and women. It was an honor and privilege to speak to each of the veterans. Sadly, more than half a dozen on our list passed away before we were able to talk.

We hope that those we were unable to reach passed along their stories, photos and memorabilia to family members or loved ones so the stories of their lives and service will not be lost.

A wonderful example of this was presented to us by the family of lifelong Coweta resident J.T. Williams. Mr. Williams' name was submitted to us not long after the project started, but he passed away in January 2008, before we scheduled an interview.

Though he was not featured in The Times-Herald's "Our Greatest Generation" series, J.T. Williams' story will live on for generations to come because in addition to photos, letters and documents, his military service stories were captured on videotape, and are now preserved on DVD.

More than 10 years ago, William's granddaughter, Lauren Stripling, interviewed Williams for a school class assignment.

On the tape, William recalls his Coweta County upbringing and talks about Army basic training at Camp Lee, Va., in November 1942. Williams says that the last week of basic was scheduled to be spent on an outdoor bivouac in freezing weather. All trainees and officers had the weekend off before the bivouac, but Williams' commanding officer's car wouldn't crank and he couldn't leave base.

Williams took a look and soon had the car running.

"He asked me how I knew how to do that," Williams says on the tape. "I told him back where I came from everybody knew how to do it."

The following Monday, Williams' commander pulled him aside and canceled his orders for the bivouac. Then he offered Williams a chance to go for advanced training as an Army mechanic, starting immediately.

Williams agreed and headed for Fort Crook, Neb. Several months later, Williams was qualified as a master mechanic.

One superior wanted him to go for even more training in Pasadena, Calif., but before that happened, a higher-ranking officer intervened and Williams found himself sailing from Virginia to north Africa.

After a brief stop, in Oran, Algeria -- during which Williams saw the ship next to his get bombed -- he cruised on to Bombay, India, and traveled cross the country to Assam. Then, he flew to Kunming, China, to work at the airfield where the famous Flying Tigers were based.

On the tape, Williams' explains how he found civilian vehicles to convert to military use, including a 1937 Ford convertible that served as a staff car.

Once all the civilian vehicles had been converted for military use, the Army delivered dozens of trucks, all completely disassembled. Williams supervised putting the vehicles together and made sure they kept running.

The trucks traveled the Burma Road bringing supplies from India to U.S. bases in China that supported the Chinese war against Japan. Williams was in charge of the entire vehicle fleet and traveled widely across Burma and China advising mechanics and maintenance men how to do their jobs faster and better.

Williams was often at air bases during bomb raids. He said his closest call came when he was in a convoy that was attacked by a lone Japanese plane. Williams drove his truck into a ditch and dove beneath the vehicle for cover. The plane didn't fire, but it scared the Americans silly.

"He was probably out of ammo and just wanted to bother us," Williams said.

Like all soldiers, Williams complained about the food. Army rations were sometimes scarce and soldiers scavenged what they could from local farmers. On the tape, Williams says soldiers were forbidden to eat local Chinese produce because it was fertilized with human waste. But they were allowed to eat all the eggs they could buy or trade for.

"One time I went three weeks and didn't eat anything but eggs," Williams says. "There was plenty of rice, too."

He recalls a joyous occasion when his mother back in Newnan sent him steak and biscuits she had canned at home. Williams says when he put that steak on an improvised grill, he drew a crowd in a hurry.

"It almost started a war when I started cooking that steak," he says. "People smelled it and they all came running."

On the tape Williams admits it was a mistake to tell his mother that his uniform was falling apart in the oppressive heat and humidity. Several weeks later, a package arrived. Williams' mother had gone to Mansour's Department Store in Newnan and bought him some replacement coveralls.

In one Chinese town, Williams and his men made friends with a group of German nuns who ran a Lutheran mission. As Germans, the nuns were technically the enemy of the Chinese and not allowed to leave their buildings. But Williams and his men had free access to the mission and started eating their meals there.

Williams also tells of his astonishment when he met an American nurse working at a Christian mission funded by Newnan's Dr. Fred Manget.

On one occasion, Williams accompanied a nurse to a Chinese family's home. The small hut housed the parents, children and horse, all of whom slept inside. While he was there, Williams held a flashlight while the mother gave birth to a child in a pile of straw in the corner.

"You can't imagine the way people lived over there," Williams says on the tape. "They were always needing something."

Williams left China in September 1945, but didn't get home until December. He went straight to his mother's house for supper. The main dish was rice.

"She didn't know how much rice I'd already eaten," he says on the tape. "But I didn't care. I was glad to get it."

Near the tape's end, Williams recites his Army serial number and says, "Some things you never forget."

J.T. is survived by Willene Williams, his wife of more than 62 years, who is now keeping most of his mementos and souvenirs -- including the DVD of Williams telling his story.

For J.T. Williams' family, what started as an educational project has become a precious and priceless, memory for the entire family. We hope others who have not yet taken steps to preserve such memories will, and soon.