by Brenna Williams

Born June 5, 1917 in Stillwater, Nevada
Married Della Martinez in Schurz, Nevada

My great-grandfather, Thomas Williams was born on June 5, 1917, to his parents Lilly Frank and Fred Williams on a small Indian reservation named Stillwater, Nevada. He had four brothers and two sisters. His brothers’ names are Paul, Johnny, Henry, and Clarence. His sisters’ names are Mamie and Lorraine.

Grandpa went to school in Stillwater for a little while then was sent to the Stewart Indian School. He disliked school. He doesn’t know why he didn’t like school. His teacher would discipline him with a yardstick. Back then they would either hit the student on the hand or on the rear end. Thomas said "that they would hit him on the rear end." After he ran away from Stewart, he went to work on his sister’s farm in Monitor Valley in Tonopah, NV. He ran away with a friend named Manual Toby.

Thomas thought that he was raised pretty well. He learned how to milk cows and had plenty to eat. His mother had a garden, and they ate fresh vegetables. Thomas and his father owned cows, which they would milk, and sell the cream to make some money. His father also earned money by working in the mine in Ione. He mined gold. If they needed more food they could provide for themselves, than his father would buy groceries at Stillwater or in town (Fallon.) His father went to town in a wagon, and later in his Model T. Grandpa Tom would get to go if he was good. Food like sugar and flour would be rationed. Grandpa’s family would grow wheat and have it ground into flour at the mill. Thomas said he was his parents’ pet. If he was bad then his father would straighten him out. His father owned both white and Indian land.

There were good and bad times when he was growing up. Some of the good times were when they would drive in the cattle. While the depression was going on only the Indians hunted so there were a lot more animals and more meat. You did not need a hunting tag like now. The Indians would hunt duck, rabbits, swan, and geese. It was wide open. Nobody would tell you where to hunt.

There was no violence like we have today. Nobody was afraid to go anywhere. There was only one cop. People didn’t lock their doors. The keys would be left in the cars. Nobody stole anything. If anything was stolen the person would go to jail.

Grandpa Tom’s wife, Della, was from Schurz. He met her at a Round Dance also called the Friendship Dance, after he had seen her at the Public Health Service Indian Hospital in Schurz. He says that "when he saw her in her blue uniform that she looked nice." Grandpa Tom would ride his horse from Stillwater to Schurz to see her. He would leave at 8 in the morning and he would arrive in Schurz about 2 in the afternoon. He would ride across what is now the Stillwater Wildlife Refuge and the Navy bombing range. Grandpa Tom would trot or gallop all the way, because he was eager to see Grandma Della. Grandpa Tom brags that when one girl heard that the Williams boys were coming to town she would tell the other girls and then every girl would get excited. Grandpa Tom was in a band with his brothers. He played the piano, Johnny played the accordion, and Paul played the drums. They would play for dances. His wife, my great-grandmother, Della passed away on October 19, 1997.

Grandpa has had many jobs such as working on the railroad, as a bus driver and a janitor at the old Schurz Elementary School; he also worked on a farm hauling hay. On the railroad he fixed broken ties and replace old rails. He liked driving the school bus best because it was easy. In Schurz Grandpa and Grandma owned many cows and horses.

Grandpa was in World War II between the years 1943 -1946 (3 years). When he entered the army he was 26 years old, and he had to leave Della and three children at home. Grandpa Tom said boot camp only lasted for 6 weeks because the Army needed more men out on the battlefield fighting. But it was still rough. Grandpa went to boot camp at Camp Roberts in California. After boot camp he went to his home in Schurz for seven days. Then he went to Georgia to "order up." After that he went to New York by train. He boarded the ship in New York in the harbor. Grandpa was on the Queen Mary while the sister ship Queen Elizabeth followed. Winston Churchill was on the Queen Mary. These were many battleships to escort the sister ships across.

He landed in Scotland. They got to Scotland then went to North Hampton in England. They got to England on a train where they loaded up on ships. It took them 5 days to get across the English Channel. Then they went to Omaha Beach. The men arrived on cattle boats. The cattle boats are boats that are flat bottom boats that had the soldiers in there and the back comes down.

The men would run out onto the shore of Omaha Beach. As the men came up the hill the Germans were in pillboxes and would shoot and kill the Americans. The water was red from the blood from the men who were shot. But Grandpa was one of the faster men and he made it up the hill. His company number was 301. And he was in the 94th division.

When he entered the Army, he was scared. But after a while he got used to being away from home. He had entered the Army not because he wanted to, but because he was drafted. He knew that he could be killed right away or tomorrow or he would live. He described the war as miserable, cold, snowy, rainy and windy. The temperature was zero or below. The temperature in France was always very cold.

They knocked the pillboxes out in Germany. The people who were in the Army went on the longest walk through France. We are not sure how long the walk was. They were continually wet from the rain. If they had to sleep, they had to sleep in a foxhole. There would be two to a foxhole so that one could watch while the other one slept. They would have to dig the hole in the ground below the frozen soil level so that they would not freeze down in the foxhole and so if a tree would fall on the hole there was less chance of someone getting hurt.

The countries that Grandpa went to were Scotland, England, France, Germany and Holland. Grandpa said, "If you looked around all you could see was blood and people lying around." Thomas was awarded many medals. Some for bravery and some for being wounded, and some for the battles he fought in. The Purple Heart means that you had gotten hurt in a battle. The Bronze Star was for how many battles you were in. He had gotten hit in the knee; he had gotten the tip of his finger shot off; and his feet frozen. He has three Purple Hearts and a Bronze Medal.

Some of the friends Grandpa remembers are Dennis, Eugene and Steve. He can’t remember their last names. Most of his friends were killed at Omaha Beach. Grandpa has told us that he had thirty or so people in his company (35 in a company; 3,000 in a division). Thomas was one of only seven survivors of his company. Grandpa liked to ride his horses and rope in his spare time. He has been rodeoing since he was a teen, roping and riding broncs. He has many relatives who also rodeo.

Thomas and Della became the parents of six children: Nenfa, Wes Sr., Phyllis, Fred, Roger and Hilda. Wes, Sr. is married to Gloria; Fred is married to Mary; and Roger is married to Hester. The daughters are not married. There are 13 grandchildren: Thomas Jesse, Anna. Carl, Joni, Lester, Lisa, Tad Sr., Wes Jr., Roger, Nikki, Gypsy, Preston and Shannon.

Thomas has 19 great-grandchildren whose names are: Thomas, Alden, Ivy, Jacob, Dylan, Jonathan, Lance, Kyle, Quincy, Lucas, Nenfa, Nikita, Tad Jr., Brenna, Kylee, Rani, Wyatt, Alena and Hayden.

Some words of advice that Grandpa gives us, are to finish college and study hard, don’t get married until you are thirty so that you can concenterate on college, and then you can get a good job and look for the right person. And his best advice is to never give up, it you want something done.