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Lyle Richard “Dick” Williams (born 1911)

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Lyle Richard "Dick" Williams (born 1911)

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    1928 LHS freshman class    		 Placeholder
    1929 LHS sophomore class    		 Placeholder
    1930 LHS junior class
This January 7, 1943, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, column 1:

    Write from India

    Sgt. Richard Williams wrote his mother, Mrs. Mae Williams, a holiday letter in which he said he sure would like to have Christmas dinner at home, but it wouldn't be this year. Dick was well and army life was going along as usual.
The following article was found in the April 8, 1943, Lowell Tribune on page 2, column 2:
    A letter received by Mrs. Mae Williams from her son, Sergt. Richard Williams, informs her that he flew from his base with the air corps in India, to spend two days with his buddy, Sergt. Roy Steward. Needless to say, the two local boys had a real visit. Dick says that both he and Roy are O. K., and that the country where they are stationed is about the same.
This January 13, 1944, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, column 1:
    Mrs. Mae Williams recently received letters from her son, S/Sgt. Richard Williams, stationed in China and from Sgt. Milford Hale, stationed with the medical corps in North Africa. Both boys are well and getting along fine.
This February 3, 1944, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, columns 2-3:
    The following letter was received this week from Sgt. L.R. (Dick) Williams, who is attached to a U.S. fighter squadron somewhere in China, by Miss June Cornell of Lowell:
      "Yes, I may be traveling a bit and seeing a lot of the country, but you are right in not envying me. I may get to see a great deal more country but it won't look a fraction as good to me as a couple of square miles of northwest Indiana. The time for me to see that little bit can't be any too soon to suit me. It may not seem like it to some people, but in 8 more days (Jan. 12) it will be two years since I left the States and thirty-three months since I left home.
      "Roy (Steward) and I are not together any more. He was transferred to another squadron some time ago, but I still hear from him once in a while. I guess I wrote you when we moved here that Bob Vandre was staying in India. I hope we will have a chance to go home together when the time comes.
      "Well, after being in the army this long and having just two 3-day passes, I finally went to a rest camp. I was only there a week, which was not nearly long enough if you ask me, but it was swell. The camp is on a big lake about twice as large as Cedar Lake and the water is a clear blue. It is high in the mountains and the air and everything around is clean. The food is the best I have had since I left Australia. The camp is up above the lake on the side of the mountain and affords a good view. It sure is a wonderful sight looking down in the valleys where small villages and farms are located. The villages look like small toys and the farms are terraced and look like giant steps from the floor of the valley to the tops of some of the smaller mountains. But when you go down into the Chinese villages it is entirely different. To stand it you have to have a very strong stomach because they are so dirty and smell so bad. Going in you have to chase the children and livestock off the road to get by, and going down any of the streets was a risk because kids, dogs, pigs, donkeys, and chickens were running all over and in and out of the houses. I looked into one of the houses and it was the same as the street--filthy. In one village the farmers were bringing produce to market with 2-wheel carts drawn by water buffalo and some were carrying it on their shoulders.
      " I borrowed a camera to take a few pictures and some of them are O.K. It only costs us about $500 a roll for film and for three rolls one point each $270 to be developed. Of course that is Chinese, but in American that is still a lot of money at 90 to 1. Money doesn't last long here--for example, here is how $40 goes--turned into Chinese it is 3,600. One Chinese dinner for the boys 940, wine 600, pictures 700, writing paper 250, shoes half-soled 500, and a couple more hundred for cleaning then the remainder goes for coffee--at $25 for one cup of java and two sinkers. So you see how easy it is to be broke. S'long until the next time,

            Dick"
The following October 19, 1944, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 5 column 5-6:

    RETURNING HOME AFTER 32 MONTHS OVERSEAS

    S/Sgt. Lyle R. Williams, son of Mrs. Arthur Willams, Lowell, is returning home after spending over 32 months overseas as an airplane armorer with the famous "China Blitzer" squadron.

    The "China Blitzer" squadron is a unit of the "Flying Horse" fighter group, which is a vital part of Major General C.L. Chennault's famed 14th air force. This fighter outfit left the United States just after the war was declared, and headed toward Java to defend that island against the Japs. Before the unit could get into the fight, Java fell and the group was hurried to India in time to help stem the tide of Japanese in Burma toward India. After a year and a half there the "Flying Horse" fighter group moved into China, where it has been active on every Chinese front.

    Sgt. Williams enlisted in the air corps at March Field, Calif., in April of 1941, where he was assigned to the "China Blitzer" fighter squadron. He received his orders for overseas duty in January, 1942, and with his group arrived in India in March. After serving 19 months with his present organization in India, he went with it to China in October, 1943.

    He is a graduate of Lowell high school, class of 1931, and was employed as a painter before entering the air corps.

    Sgt. Williams is authorized to wear the American Defense Medal, the Good Conduct Medal and the Asiatic-Pacific Ribbon with two bronze stars; one for the India-Burma campaign, and the other for the China campaign.

This May 10, 1945, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 3, column 1:
    S/Sgt. Richard (Dick) Williams of the air corps, and Ned Williams, E.M. 2/c, are here visiting their mother, Mrs. Mae Williams, and Ned's family and other relatives. This is the first time the two brothers have met in nearly four years, as they never had furloughs at the same time since entering the service.
A September 20 , 1945, Lowell Tribune article (page 4, column 3) listed Dick Williams as having been recently discharged from the service.

This October 4, 1945, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, column 1:
    A real get-together was held here last Saturday when T/Sgt. Gordon Fitzgerald of Blue Island, Ill., a former Lowell boy, came down to meet his old buddies, S/Sgt. Dick Williams and S/Sgt. Roy Steward. "Fitz" and Dick have been discharged from service for several days and Roy arrived Saturday after receiving his discharge at Camp Atterbury on Friday. All graduates of L.H.S., the three boys enjoyed a pleasant day of visiting. "Fitz" returned to his work that night, but Roy and Dick are continuing their celebration this week with a fishing trip to Wisconsin.
This May 20, 1948, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 1, column 3:

    THREE LOCAL MEN REENLIST IN ARMY AIR FORCE

    Roy Steward, Dick Williams and Norman Dinwiddie, veterans of World War II, re-enlisted in the Army Air Corps recently, all three receiving the rank of Staff Sgt.
    Roy and wife are at Perrin Airfield, Sherman, Tex., Norman and his family are at Chanute Field, Rantoul, Ill., and Dick is at a field in Texas.
The following October 18, 1951, Lowell Tribune article was found on page 2, column 2:
    Lyle "Dick" Williams, air force machinist, who is serving, for the second time since the Korean War, a six months assignment in Japan, will soon return to Spokane, Wash. Dick anticipates a furlough about December 1st.
A December 27, 1951, Lowell Tribune article (page 2, column 1) listed Dick Williams as one of many servicemen from the Lowell vicinity arriving home for the holidays.

The following May 8, 1952, Lowell Tribune article appeared on page 2, column 2:
    Lyle "Dick" Williams, currently stationed at the Fairchild Air Base, Spokane, Washington, has, for the past week, been the guest of his sister, Mrs. John B. Martin and family. "Dick" has rendered nine years of service with the Air Force.
Last updated on January 10, 2012.

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