First Lieut. Harry A. Williams. Photo courtesy Lynne Williams Miller.
FIRST LIEUT. HARRY A. WILLIAMS
Harry Williams was born on a farm in Cooks, Michigan, February 7, 1887 and was the son Mr. and Mrs. Milton Williams. For six years prior to entering the service he was employed as a government clerk in Washington, D.C. In the fall of 1917, he entered an officers’ training camp near Chattanooga, TN., and was sent overseas in the spring of 1918.
First Lieutenant Harry A. Williams, 7th Infantry, was posthumously issued a Silver Star Citation for action near Fossoy, France, on July 15, 1918. During an intense artillery preparation by the enemy, Lieutenant Williams voluntarily took command of a platoon of the company to which he was attached for the purpose of liaison. Through absolute disregard of personal danger and high qualities of leadership these men were safely conducted from their support position, through Fossoy, under terrific shell fire, arriving at the front line in time to assist in stopping the enemy’s advance.
Lieut. Williams was later killed in action near Cierges, France, October 13, 1918, during the Meuse-Argonne offensive. In addition to his parents, he was survived by three brothers and two sisters: Roy at home, Addison at Camp Mead, Maryland and Howard, who was in France as a locomotive engineer in the service. The sisters were Mrs. Jas. McKnight of Cooks and Mrs. Casper Sample of Wisconsin.