Retired U.S. Air Force Col. Gil Williams heard many war stories about his uncle who went missing in action, Tuskegee Airman Capt. Edward Julius Williams.
“I wanted to follow in my uncle’s footsteps,” Gil Williams said, referring to his uncle affectionately as “Uncle EJ.”
The war stories also came with some “show and tell.” Williams’ now-late aunt, Geneva, would show him his Uncle EJ’s Purple Heart certificate.
During those moments, Williams never saw Uncle EJ’s actual medal.
Until last month.
In early February, he was contacted by his cousin, Curtis Green, about a discovery that brought joy to his heart.
Uncle EJ’s service medals had been discovered in the most unusual of places: a desk drawer at the former Salvation Army thrift store on Broughton Street in Orangeburg.
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“It was not on my radar to look for them,” Williams said. “I did not think of the medals themselves until my cousin called me and told me they had been found. This came a complete surprise to me that they were even out there.”
Local Orangeburg businessman Penn Moore found the medals as he was cleaning out the building to prepare it for an insurance business. The medals include a Purple Heart, Aviator Wings, Air Medal and Good Conduct medal.
The Salvation Army left the building around 2017 and moved to Stonewall Jackson Boulevard. Moore purchased the building in the middle of December 2023.
“There were a lot of contents left behind,” Moore said. “I found it by happenstance.
“The (cleanup) crew was throwing stuff away, but by the good fortune and the grace of God it happened on my watch.”
When Moore found the medals, he knew what he needed to do.
“They were important,” Moore said. “They didn’t need to be tossed in the trash and they needed to be returned to the family.”
Moore said he has family members who were killed in World War II.
“I have always had an appreciation for military service and certainly the ultimate sacrifice of giving one’s life for the United States of America,” Moore said. “It was important for me to seek somebody who cared for these medals.”
“I don’t think they ended up there on purpose,” Moore said. “I think it was purely by accident.”
The search
Having found the service medals, Moore embarked upon a search to find a family member of the fallen soldier.
Through various online searches, Moore discovered that Geneva Williams was on the faculty of Claflin College (later university) for about 60 years. She taught music and served as chaplain.
Finding the Claflin connection, Moore contacted Claflin’s dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Dr. Isaiah McGee.
“Dr. Isaiah McGee knew her when she was living,” Moore said.
The search also revealed Uncle EJ and Geneva had two daughters: Edwina, who died in 2016, and Cherryetta, who died in 2019. Geneva died in 2018.
Moore said his aunt, who is known for her interest in family histories, started researching Ancestory.com and Findagrave.com.
“Within three hours, she had an answer for the family,” Moore said.
On Feb. 16, Williams, who is a Delta Airlines pilot, flew from his home in Georgia to South Carolina to meet with Moore and his fiancé, Angela Burroughs, at the Fort Jackson National Cemetery in Columbia. Uncle EJ’s tombstone is there, as well as Aunt Geneva’s.
“It was quite the moment,” Willams said. “It was a great time to meet him. It was the first time seeing my uncle’s plot. I had seen pictures of it.”
Williams says he is now trying to decide what to do with the medals and has considered loaning them to Tuskegee University or perhaps to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.
In the short term, the medals will be on display at the family reunion this coming summer.
An American hero
Capt. Williams was born March 3, 1917 and lived in Columbus, Georgia.
According to the Congressional Record, the late S.C. Congressman Floyd Spence recognized Williams’ service from the floor of the U.S. House on Oct. 10, 2000.
According to the record, Williams was drafted while studying engineering at Howard University in Washington, D.C.
Before World War II, leaders of the Army Air Corps (predecessor to the modern-day Air Force) barred African Americans from serving in uniform.
Facing mounting public pressure in the years before the war, the U.S. government ordered the removal of some restrictions against Black aviators, first by opening civilian training programs in 1939, and then by accepting Black pilots into racially segregated units of the Army Air Corps in 1941.
A new air base at Tuskegee, Alabama, became the center for the training of Black air personnel.
Williams was in the first class for pilots at Tuskegee Army Air Field when he joined the service in 1941.
Williams served with the 318th Army Air Force Base Unit until 1943 as a second lieutenant pilot of a single-engine fighter, according to the Together We Served website. The website connects veterans.
Williams later became a first lieutenant when he served in the 99th Fighter Squadron from 1942 to 1945. During this time, he was also a member of the 332nd Fighter Group.
Williams flew in Europe during World War II and returned to Tuskegee as a training instructor.
He then met his wife-to-be, who worked on the base, according to the Congressional Record.
Williams was called to Korea when Edwina was 4 months old and Cherryetta was in utero.
“They had not anticipated the Korean War,” Geneva Williams once said. “He had been given orders to come home for the new baby. But they decided they needed him in the air.’’
While flying in formation over Seoul on March 30, 1951 in an F-51D Mustang night fighter with the 40th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron, 35th Fighter-Interceptor Group, the 34-year-old’s aircraft received a direct hit by anti-aircraft fire, crashed into a dike on the beach and burst into flames.
His remains were not recovered and he still is considered missing in action. He is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing memorial in Honolulu, Hawaii as well as at the Korean War Memorial in Washington, D.C.
The American Red Cross brought the news in the form of a telegram to Geneva Williams.
‘‘It was a time when we needed support from family, community and it came in various ways,” she said, according to the Congressional Record. “We thank God every day for those who extended a hand and really cared.”
Edwina was recorded praising her father’s sacrifice.
‘‘He gave the supreme sacrifice by fighting for his country,” she said. “We miss him because he did not return. Our family has been in a state of flux because just receiving a telegram in the early ‘50s stating that he is missing in action, there is no closure to whether he is really gone or is a prisoner of war possibly.’”
Geneva Williams was presented with her husband’s Purple Heart at the Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter.
“I celebrate my husband by being involved and answering the call,” she said at the time.
Approximately 1,000 Americans of African ancestry completed flight training at Tuskegee Army Air Field. Of these, 445 went overseas as combat pilots. Combat records indicate they destroyed 251 enemy aircraft, winning more than 850 medals.
The group was awarded three Distinguished Unit Citations.
As a side note, the Congressional Record notes Edwina and Cherryetta Williams were among the first Black students to integrate Orangeburg schools and Columbia College.
‘‘We were following Daddy,’’ Edwina proudly said. ‘‘Service is one of the things that my family had done through the years and is evidenced by the fact that my father is not with us because he gave his life in service for the country.’’
Contact the writer: gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or 803-533-5551. Check out Zaleski on Twitter at @ZaleskiTD.
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