William Parker Williams
William Parker Williams was born in 1912, on November 10th. His
birth place was Blandins Ville Illinois, but he grew up in Dubuque
Iowa. As a young boy he was like any other kid, he helped in his father
(William) in the local shoe store their family owned and played
stickball with his friends for entertainment. William went to a small
school and got fairly good grades. He was very close to his mother as a
kid, but his father was distant and difficult to know. Williams’s dad
was strict and was more concerned about his shoe business than his
family. At the young age of 20, William got married to his long time
sweetheart Sara Rebecca Reilly. William managed department stores in
Chicago Illinois and Detroit Michigan. His wife also helped him with
the stores. They were a very happy couple and there first son was born
in 1937, 5 years after their marriage. They named him William the 2nd
but called him Billy. William did not choose to join the war but
instead he was drafted into service by the US government. When he was
drafted he was living in Dubuque Iowa where he was working as a
wholesale clothing salesman.
World War II began for the United States in 1941, and he
was drafted into the US Navy in November 1942. William says that his
parents were not concerned about him going into the military, though
his wife was extremely worried for him and their family. Though he knew
he would miss his family going into the military, in a way he felt
proud to serve his country and protect the land he loved. It was
difficult to find good in days of war, but he was determined to make
the best of it. After he was drafted he was stationed at Farragut Idaho
before he was sent overseas to the South Pacific in the war against
Japan. Farragut is just outside of Spokane Washington. Williams’s
wife and his son went out and stayed in Spokane for two months in the
summer of 1943 for the occasional from private William. They went out
to Camp Farragut on Sundays and visited with him in a big recreation
hall for the soldiers. And once in a while he traveled to Spokane to
visit his wife and son. The hardest part for William was being away
from his young family. He did make many new friends in the military
though, including Roy, Ben, Ralf, and Harold. They did not stay close
friends, but after the war he kept in touch with Harold trough letters
about once every few weeks. The next year he was shipped overseas. He
was a petty officer which is like being a sergeant in the army. He was
on a water carrier which took fresh water to aircraft carriers. He saw
some battle action and one time a Japanese suicide plane crashed into a
ship right behind them. That was the scariest moment while being in the
military. He spent time in New Guinea, Guadalcanal, and ended up being
stationed in Japan after the atomic bomb caused the Japanese to
surrender. While in the war William was lucky enough not to have any
serious injuries. But he does clam that being homesick is the worst
injury he could have possibly got. The war ended in 1945 and he was
discharged in the spring of 1946.
He was glad to be home and really didn't like to talk
much about the war. William says it was a good experience to be able to
serve for the navy but he was often times scared and lonely. He went
back to work in Merchandizing and moved from Dubuque to North Dakota
where he had his own store in Cavalier North Dakota. Williams second
son (Parker) was born in 1947 after William came back from the war.
William and his wife Sara operated a store in Cavalier until he died in
1958. My great grandmother (Sara also Williams wife) started a new
store and operated it until she sold it in about 1982. My great
grandfather Williams Parker Williams was a Veteran.