David “D.O.” Williams

Biography

Brigadier Generall David Overton “D.O.” Williams, Jr. served in the Army Air Corps in WWII with the 50th Fighter Group from 1939-1945. He was stationed in United States; Philippines; Okinawa Islands (Ryukyu Islands); Japan; Europe; and Africa.

From 1950-1953 D.O. was stationed in Korea flying the F-84E serving with the 111th Fighter Squadron/136th Fighter Wing during the Korean War. He remembers “They shot at me a few times, dinged the aircraft, but didn’t hurt me.”

He also served during the Vietnam War from 1961-1975 serving with the 27th Fighter Wing and 8th Fighter Wing. Shot down a MiG in what he calls “a pretty good dogfight. There were 8 MiG 17’s and 2 MiG 21’s against 8 of us, so it was a good donnybrook.

We lost a lot of people [in Vietnam]. We lost them to SAM’s, triple A, and we lost a couple to MiG’s. That was in [my] fighter squadron itself, and we had 4 squadrons, with 25 planes in each squadron. We must have lost 10 or 12 on my watch.”

Units Assigned

• 1943 Entered Aviation Cadets
• Basic Training, Wichita Falls, TX
• 9/1944 Pre-flight Training, San Antonio, TX
• Flight Training, Ft Worth, TX
• Primary Flight Training, Greenville, TX
• 1944 Advanced Single-engine training, Victoria, TX (rec’d Wings)
• P-40/P-47 Fighter Training, Harding Field, LA
• P-47 Training, Winfield, KS
• 7/1945 50th Fighter Squadron, CO to the Pacific when the Atom Bomb was dropped (P-47)
• 12/1945 released from active military duty, went back to Texas A&M
• 9/1946 Returned to active duty, Engineering School with US Army, Ft. Belvoir, VA
• Topographical Studies with US Army in Philippines
• US Army Air Corps became US Air Force, entered service
• 51st Fighter Wing, Okinawa
• 1948 Instructor Pilot, Scott AFB, IL
• 111st Fighter Squadron/136th Fighter Wing, Langley AFB, VA (P-51, F-84E)
• 1/1951-6/1951 111st Fighter Squadron/136th Fighter Wing, Itazuke AB, Japan (F-84E-23 missions)
• 111st Fighter Squadron/136th Fighter Wing, Tegu, Korea (67 missions)
• 3/1952 12th Fighter Wing, Bergstrom AFB, TX (F-84, F-84F)
• 1955-1958 561st Fighter Squadron, Operations Officer/Squadron Commander, Bergstrom AFB, TX
• 1958 27th Fighter Wing, Bergstrom AFB, TX (F-101 Voodoo)
• 6/1959 Command and Staff School, Maxwell AFB
• 1959 Ramstein AB, Germany (F-100)
• Headquarters USAF- Europe, Operations Staff Officer, TAC EVAL, Wiesbaden, Germany (F-100)
• 1962-1964 Cannon AFB, NM (F-100)
• 1964/1965 Da Nang AB, Vietnam (F-100)
• 1965-6/1966 Air War College, Maxwell AFB (Distinguished Graduate)
• 6/1965-11/1967 4453d Combat Crew Training Wing, Commander, Davis Monthan AFB, AZ (F-4)
• 11/1967-5/1968 8th Fighter Wing, deputy commander/deputy commander of operations, Ubon AFB, Thailand (F-4)
• 5/1968-9/1968 Headquarters 7th AF, Chief of the Attack Fighter Division under the deputy chief of staff, operations, Saigon
• 9/968-3/1971 Headquarters U.S. Pacific Command, chief of air operations under the assistant chief of staff, operations, Camp H.M. Smith, HI
• 4/1971-4/1973 HQ USAF, Deputy director for operational test and evaluation, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations
• 4/1973-6/1974 Pentagon, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as deputy director for operations, National Military Command Center, Washington, DC
• 6/1974-7/1976 Chief of staff, U.S. Taiwan Defense Command,  Republic of China, Taipei
• 7/1/1976 Retired USAF

Awards & Decorations

Silver Star
Legion of Merit (with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Distinguished Flying Cross
Bronze Star Medal
Air Medal (with 9 Oak Leaf Clusters)
Air Force Commendation Medal.

Rating: Command pilot
Flight Hours: 5,300 (most in jet fighter aircraft)

Flight Info

P-40
P-47
P-51
F-84 E/F
F-101
F-100
F-4

Military Education

1959 Command and Staff School, Maxwell AFB
1965-6/1966 Air War College, Maxwell AFB (Distinguished Graduate)

Civilian Education

• 1942 Eagle Pass High School, TX
• Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas (now Texas A&M University)
• University of Hawaii
• 1970 BS/ Military Science, Chaminade College of Honolulu, HI