FOX 45 News
- Veteran's Day 2008

SPRINGFIELD-- Father, Son Who Served Shared Their Stories

 

At the Amvets Post 25 in Springfield, veterans seldom share the most painful details of their days of combat.

David Williams served a 13-month tour in Vietnam with the Marines. He doesn't like to talk much about what he saw there, but after all these years he does wonder what happened to the men who served alongside him, the men he calls brothers.

"You lived indoors, outdoors you were together 24 hours a day," he said.

To this day he has no idea if many of them lived or died after being wounded.

David joined the Marines at 17, the same age his father, Bill, joined the Navy.

"Join the Navy, see the world, that's what they told us," Bill said.

Bill spent 11 years in the Navy and another 14 in the Army. He fought in Korea, Vietnam and was on the U.S.S. Nevada the day the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.

"I'm going down the ladder... and then a bomb went off and hit me in the back of my hand," Bill remembers.

Bill and David don't ask for much recognition on Veterans Day, or any day, but Bill says it is nice to be appreciated.

"Recognize the veterans, pay attention to the veterans," he said.