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Thursday, June 7, 2007
Tradition of service spans generations
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
After a year in Iraq, he could hardly wait to see his kids, sit in the backyard and sip sweet tea.
David Williams returned to Lawrenceville in April after a tour in the Middle East with the 1st Battalion, 214th Field Artillery of the Georgia National Guard. He’d been assigned to a fuel depot.
Call him a “soldier’s soldier.”
He spent four years in the Marines in the mid-1980s and, spurred in part by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, joined the Guard in July 2005.
Today, his military memorabilia graces a display at the Gwinnett Veterans Memorial Museum in the Historic Courthouse in downtown Lawrenceville.
“Every soldier who sees it says, ‘That’s the guy I want to go into battle with,’ ” said Gene Bivings, a museum volunteer.
I couldn’t think of a better place to visit on the Badie Tour Wednesday than the museum, a tribute to locals who took part in wars that date from the Revolutionary War to present. It was, after all, the 63rd anniversary of D-Day, the day Allied forces invaded France during World War II.
Williams, 42, was among the half-dozen or so veterans who viewed the museum treasures. He’s a single parent who has custody of Austin, 9, and Cierra, 5. His mother, Vickie Williams, lives with the family and took care of the brood while he was in southern Iraq.
“I couldn’t do this without her,” he told me. “She gets the home-front medal.”
It’s obvious that service, honor, duty make up the man. His stepfather and both grandfathers were military men. As a kid, he played with G.I. Joes and military toys.
He plans to make a career out of the military. In October he reports to Camp Shelby, Miss., where he’ll serve as a “warrior trainer” — a soldier who schools others in combat.
Then by January 2009, he could be deployed again. If it’s Iraq, cool.
“It’s my job,” he told me.
“The majority of people I served with do not agree with withdrawing the troops. They want to go ahead and finish the job. You don’t give the enemy a timeline. That’s not how it works.”
Before Williams left the museum, he posed for photos.
Then he and the other veterans gathered in the hallway to recognize the special day.
David Wray, chaplain of American Legion Post 232 in Snellville, prayed for World War II soldiers who didn’t return home, as well as their relatives.
“Never forget them,” he said.
Bivings, the museum volunteer, asked the veterans on Wednesday to recount what they were doing the day the Allies’ armada landed on the beaches of Normandy.
Gertrude Breslin served as a medic at Hallorn General Hospital, then an Army facility on Staten Island, N.Y.; Elwood Hart a Canadian army enlistee, awaited deployment.
Richard King, commander of Snellville Post 232, replied with an answer that had everybody in stitches.
“I was being born,” he said. “Sixty-three years ago today.”
Admission to the Gwinnett Veterans Memorial Museum, 185 Crogan St., Room 118, is free. Hours: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday. http://vetmemorialmuseum. tripod.com
• Rick Badie’s column appears on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Contact him at 770-263-3875 or e-mail rbadie@ajc.com.
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