LCpl. Michael J. Williams, U.S.M.C (KIA)

Valley Marine dies in Iraq battle

(reprinted from the Arizona Republic, March 30, 2003)

Mike Williams remembered as 'hero,' 'teddy bear'

Judd Slivka
The Arizona Republic
Mar. 30, 2003 12:00 AM

"Mike is gone."

That was the note his mother sent early Saturday morning.

Mike Williams, a 31-year-old Marine lance corporal from Phoenix, was killed March 23 in the fighting near Nasiriyah, Iraq.

His family was told early Saturday that he was dead, just three days after learning he was missing in action.

Army Pfc. Lori Piestewa, 22, of Tuba City, continues to be listed as missing by military officials.

Williams, who attended Deer Valley High School and Glendale Community College, was serving as a forward observer for a 60mm mortar unit with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division based at Camp Lejeune, N.C.

"We have a deep faith in God," said Williams' mother, Sandy Watson. "We know Mike is with him now."

It will be about another week until his body is returned to the Valley.

Out in front

Williams was out in front of his unit last Sunday during an assault on a critical bridge in Nasiriyah, when his unit was ambushed, family members said they were told. The Iraqis attacked, and his unit pulled back, but Williams' squad was cut off from the main unit.

"They got out of their vehicle and started to dig in," said Williams' brother Joe, a former Marine. "And as he was running to his position, he was killed instantly by a mortar shell."

Because Iraqi troops were occupying the area, U.S. troops were unable to recover Williams' body until the past two days.

"He died a hero," Joe said. "He died fighting for his country."

"Mike's not the first, and he's not going to be the last," Watson said. "No matter how you feel about this war, you need to stand up and support our troops. We're already there. We're already fighting."

Williams had a flooring business in the Valley before he enlisted. His age earned him the nicknames "Pops" and "Omar," for "Old Man River." His 6-foot-4, 240-pound frame led him to his job: carrying the heavy mortar for his squad mates, then going out and calling in target coordinates.

He was full of guts, his family said. In boot camp, in a torturous run dubbed The Gantlet, Williams fractured his foot. He ran 14 more miles with the injury, at one point picking up a fellow Marine who couldn't run any farther.

'A good Marine'

"He had some rough patches in his life, just like we all do," said his cousin, Paul Hernandez. "But he enlisted, and it just turned his life around."

Williams' mother puts it in simpler, more direct terms: "He was a good Marine. He wanted to go. He wanted to be there."

Williams had the chance to leave his unit on the boat trip over after he had an allergic reaction to the smallpox vaccine.

But he refused.

In the wake of his death, family members remembered better times, telling stories about him at the family's Peoria home Saturday. They told stories about his size, about how he was, in his mother's words, "a big teddy bear." They told stories about his penchant for taking things apart and putting them back together. They told stories about how he couldn't wait to get engaged to the great love of his life, and how he proposed to her via e-mail sent from the ship as he was headed to the Middle East.

There were other stories, tinted military green. Stories about the man he became after the Marines got hold of him. Stories about the letters his commanders sent to his parents, telling them what a good job their son was doing.

"Boot camp stories," Hernandez said. "Marine stories. Stories that made you feel like he wanted to be there and died for something."

A fitting hymn

There were other stories, too, like the one about this Christmas, when the family's annual song night focused squarely on Williams.

One of his cousins, Colorado Rockies pitcher Justin Speier, a former Marine, began to sing the Marine Corps Hymn.

And then everyone picked it up and started singing it to Williams, Hernandez said.

"His face," Hernandez said, "just lit up."


Reach the reporter at judd.slivka@arizonarepublic.com

(reprinted from the Arizona Daily Star, March 30, 2003)

Marine Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, 31, Phoenix.

Williams, among a group of 2nd Expeditionary Brigade Marines missing since last Sunday, was found dead near Nassiriya, his fiancee, Heather Strange, said Saturday.

Williams, a 60mm mortar forward observer from Phoenix, apparently was caught in a sand storm and lost radio communication, Strange said. Family members were not given further details.

"I couldn't be more proud of him," Strange said. "He's a hero."

Thinking he wasn't doing enough with his life, Williams had left his flooring business to his brother and enlisted in February 2001, Strange said. Fellow Marines nicknamed him Omar, short for "Old Man River," because he was 10 years older than most in his unit.

Williams proposed to Strange by e-mail from his ship on the way to Kuwait. Strange said her sister is married to Williams' brother, Joe, and both sets of siblings had been set up by their mothers, who are friends.