One Amazing Story!

Two things the Historical Society volunteers love, besides homemade baked treats, are a challenge and a great story. C Petersen had asked us to search our George Field archives for a photo of 1LT Samuel B. Williams Jr. (of Atlanta GA).   He is believed to have graduated from Advanced Flight Training from George Field in March of 1943. Julia R spent several morning combing through all the yearbooks and Snafus but to no avail.  I asked Mr. Petersen if this was a relative and here is the story he sent back……

“In 2009, a co-worker, knowing of my interest in WWII asked me if I wanted some memorabilia he was trying to get rid of.  He didn't know much about them save that his wife had "rescued it".  The law firm she worked at had been handling a woman's estate after she passed away.   The deceased had no next of kin, and requested that the items be given to a museum or be destroyed.  When no museum could be found that wanted them, she couldn't in good conscience destroy them, so she stuffed them in a closet with the intent of finding a home for them somehow.  They sat there for well over a decade.  So my co-worker brought them in to me.

“Dog-tags, pilots wings, Air Medal, Purple Heart, little gold star, luggage tag...  all belonging to a man named Samuel Belk Williams Jr.  My quick research revealed that he'd piloted a C-47 on D-Day, dropping paratroopers into Normandy on D-Day, but failed to return (along with his crew) after being shot down that morning, and was eventually buried in Coleville Sur-Mer cemetery in Normandy.

“This was amazing!  My interest in D-Day had taken me to Normandy back in 2004 for the 60th Anniversary of D-Day.  I travelled with Stephen Ambrose's tour group (author of The Band of Brothers) and was honored to meet many of the veterans made famous by the HBO series of the same name.  Of all the WWII veterans whose "stuff" could wind up on my desk, it was someone who participated in that battle and was buried, among 9388 other Americans, in that same cemetery I'd visited 5 years before.

“This launched me on an even more in-depth research adventure, to find out as much as I could about "my pilot" who I call Belk (I have reason to believe that his family called him Belk instead of Samuel).  Over the years, I found much more info; what happened to some of paratroopers that jumped from his plane, found his picture in his high school yearbook, spoke with members of his squadron, and compiled my research on his "story" (what I knew of it) for a capstone project for my undergrad degree in history.  I even made contact with distant relatives and offered to return his personal effects to his family, but once they read my capstone project, they all agreed that I should continue to be the caretaker of his memory.  My family knows all about him and I use his story to help teach my kids about honor, sacrifice, and duty.  My hope has been to make it back to Normandy to that cemetery so I can finally introduce myself to him - since while I'd been there in 2004, I didn't know him yet.

“Belk continues to pop up in my life outside the annual anniversary of the battle and Memorial Day.  A few years ago, a George Washington University student reached out to me after randomly picking his name out of a list of Georgia WWII KIA to do research on.  A few years later, a woman reached out to me whose uncle had served with him in England before the invasion and even had personal stories of him (they'd been close friends before he was killed).  She's returned to Normandy several times and has visited his grave - which makes the pull for me to go back to Normandy again.

 “Two summers ago, I was contacted by an French amateur archeologist who'd always believed there was some confusion on where Belk's crash site was.  He'd finally found what he believed to be the actual crash site and had reported it to the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, and they were planning to excavate with the hopes of finding the remains of the three remaining MIA members of the crew.  They are digging again this summer and believe they found (but are waiting to confirm) the remains of the radio operator.

“It's been a heck of a ride, with Belk and I, and one that I've been honored to be on.  However, last fall the story took a turn that still leaves me speechless.  As I mentioned, in 2004, I'd been to the cemetery where Belk is buried, but it was years before I "knew" him.  Last fall, a friend asked me for some pictures from my trip to that cemetery.  It took me a long time to find the old CD that I'd put them on right after I came back (I'd not looked at them since).  I found the pictures and as I started flipping through them, I thought, "Wouldn't it be amazing if Belk's grave was visible in the background of one of the few pictures, I took that morning back in 2004?"  But I quickly dismissed the thought... there are 9388 graves there.  Because well, after all, what are the odds?

“You can see where this is going... I flipped through the pictures of individual headstones I took that morning, zooming in as much as I could to the headstones in the background of each picture (barely bothering to look at the one in the center of each frame - because, well, what are the odds?), looking for Belk's name.  On the fifth and final picture, I zoomed in on the background headstones, again with no luck.  But as I zoomed out and centered on the white marble cross there in the foreground of the photo, every nerve in my body exploded.  Out of 9388 white marble crosses and Stars of David, that morning I stood as Belk’s grave and took a picture... for no reason whatsoever.  And then, six years later, among the millions of WWII veterans, that particular man’s personal effects, having been in a co-worker’s closet long before I even went to Normandy, would wind up on my desk.

“Had he hitched a ride back to the US with me back in 2004, knowing that his things were in my co-worker’s closet?  What was it he wanted from me?  It all sounds so supernatural, so at this point, I'm open to any eventuality.  My grandfather had been a LINK trainer in Texas during WWII, teaching pilot cadets how to fly with instruments only... I have to assume that my grandfather trained Belk!  I have a WWII M1 Garand rifle in my personal collection that was made in 1942.  I have to assume that Belk used that rifle in boot camp.  Sounds crazy - because well, after all, what are the odds?

“I still can't believe it.  Every time I recount the story, I have to suspend my own disbelief.  Cosmic is the only word I have.”

After sharing this amazing story with the volunteers, renewed research began, but alas, we just don’t have that particular yearbook.  So, we are asking anyone out there to check if the -43C Yearbook is in your possession. WE would love to find Belk’s photo for Mr. Petersen. If you can help us, please contact us at lawrencelore.org.

Check out our video Moment In Time--George Field