COL (R) T.W. Williams

COL (R) T.W. Williams sat down with me for Heroes I Know. I met him in 1992. I have been a fan ever since.

He has been playing guitar since he could pick up a string. Third grade. Bands through college. The hop band at West Point. They still play the class reunions. Thirtieth. Thirty-fifth. Fortieth.

Ranger school. Airborne school. Straight to Germany as a platoon leader. He tried to make the whole platoon Rangers. Air defenders. He came out below the zone. Captain promotable into the Pentagon. Jay Garner’s office. Wes Taylor from the Ranger Regiment came upstairs and pinned major on him.

Three tours in that building. 9/11. His office was hit. Debris in the hallways. They lost people. Cheryl. Sandy. He still says his Lord does things in his life for a reason, good or bad. You can see it on him.

He would form a circle in the field after a run. Anybody want to get me. Come on. He wrestled them in the dirt. He said you do not have to be a bully to lead. You have to let them know you will get in the dirt the same way you are asking them to.

Garrison commander, Fort Belvoir, before he hung it up. Loves and losses. Success and sorrow. A shining star whose faith and love is obvious to anyone who meets him.

I cry in almost every interview. I am not sorry about that. Thank you, Colonel. That is why we hit record. Get the story on tape before we are too old or too sick to tell it.