Help Me Get My Dad to Arlington National Cemetery
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I am appealing for your financial support to help reinter my father at Arlington National Cemetery. Hear the story… and posthumously meet PFC Williams.
I dropped the phone and cried tears of joy when this recently happened.
God has shown His hand in a miraculous and powerful way as my Dad, PFC Lamar L. Williams, will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery nearly fifty years after fighting and dying for this country in one of the nation's worst wars.
I am Lamar's daughter, Lamonda.
I am in need of your help to make one of the biggest accomplishments & moments in my life become a reality:
This is a deeply touching and compelling story...
PFC Lamar L. Williams will be exhumed and disinterred from a racially segregated potter's field in St. Augustine, FL on July 23rd and re-interred at the prestigious Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 finally getting the honor and notability he so befittingly deserves!!
This is a story of a daughter's fight to see her Dad, a brave black twenty-one year old American soldier, rise above the tragic deadly impact of the Vietnam War and a racially segregated post-Jim Crow south nearly fifty years after death.
My father was killed in action in Vietnam just one month after his twenty-first birthday and tragically a month shy of my very first birthday. Casualty #55003. PFC Lamar L. Williams arrived in South Vietnam January of 1971 and was dead by April - just three short months later.
My Dad was magnetic. He had a big smile and fun-loving personality! My ninety-year-old grandmother, Zethel, once told me that before my Dad went off to fight in the war he would lift me up on his shoulders and take me to get ice cream at the corner store every single day. But like so many young men in the late sixties and seventies, including a disproportionate number of Black men, my father was drafted to fight in the “conflict” of Vietnam. Ice cream runs, dreams and ambitions cut short.
The Army called it a hostile death. As told to the family, my Dad ventured up high in the mountain to fight the enemy instead of staying low in the valley. He died by the enemy’s sniper fire, ripping apart the lower part of his torso, and leaving behind a young widow to raise his baby daughter. That’s me. Today, I like to imagine that my Dad was led to higher ground in order to be closer to The Lord at the time of his untimely death.
But even more tragic my Dad's remains returned home to be buried in what is at best described as a potter’s field. A civilian cemetery in his hometown of St. Augustine, FL so unkempt and in such deplorable condition it will bring tears to your eyes!! Click the links and look at the pictures below to see the injustice and travesty still occurring today.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/families-concerned-over-st-johns-county-abandoned-historical-cemetery/836456326
Systemic racism combined with a longstanding history and culture of de facto racial segregation that existed in a post-Jim Crow south didn’t “allow” my father to be buried in the local adjacent whites-only cemetery. Instead this is where he is buried.
https://www.staugustine.com/news/20180925/around-west-augustine-community-plans-to-clean-up-woodlawn-cemetery
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/money/consumer/on-your-side/on-your-side-cemetery-mix-up-leaves-st-augustine-family-very-upset/77-5455f0fe-954a-49e4-b6cb-2214429d5e7b
After making an appeal to the nation’s most esteemed military cemetery back in 2018, and initially being denied due to a government oversight in required documents for killed in action cases, my father was finally granted the highest honor of being buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019.
You should know that it was an overturned decision made nearly a year and a half later by... "somebody higher up than me." These were the exact words Ms. Flanagan, the person who handles all killed in action cases at Arlington, said to me when she called with the wonderful news. You got that right... SOMEBODY higher up indeed. :)
A victory yes!! But there’s no financial support. My Mom and I have to cover 100% of the cost in order for August 7th to become a reality.
Out-Of-Pocket Costs:
* Exhumation to disinter the remains
* New casket to re-casket the remains
* Travel & transportation of the remains to Arlington, VA
* Experienced Funeral Home to oversee both the disinterment and re-interment
* Funeral Home fees associated with the unique nature of this service (exhumation 50 yrs later)
TOTAL: $7,000
Please take a look at the Pinello Funeral Home invoice below detailing the itemized costs listed above totaling $7,000.
I have also asked Veterans Affairs (VA) for financial assistance. We hope VA will champion my Dad and uphold the dutiful affairs of one of America’s brave soldiers killed in action in Vietnam by helping to pay for his burial at Arlington. But we still need you!! The family cannot rely 100% on a government agency to subsidize the cost.
How can you help? By making a memorial donation in honor of Lamar that will support his journey to Arlington.
It is tough for any of us to ask for help - especially me. Today, I stand humble and transparent before you.
SUGGESTED GIFT AMOUNT:
* Whatever your heart feels compelled to give.... any amount will help!
NOTE:
* I will be in charge of the expenses
* I respectfully request donations be made by Aug 1st - 6 days before the burial and Pinello Funeral Home due date for all monies
Some fifty years later after being buried in an unkempt racially segregated cemetery my father will receive full military honors that include a 7-soldier firing team to give a gun salute, a bugler to play “Taps,” and the presentation of national colors (aka the folding of the flag). By God’s grace and miraculous power my Dad will be buried alongside other great American heroes in Arlington like Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, boxer Joe "Brown Bomber" Louis, and pioneer Matthew Henson (the first African-American to reach the North Pole and plant the American flag).
It is the most reverent way to pay tribute to my father by giving him the high respect and notability he so befittingly deserves after fighting and dying for this country in Vietnam.
Salute and remember PFC Williams! The recipient of a Purple Heart and posthumously given the Military Merit Medal from the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. Also given the Bronze Star Medal for distinguishing himself by outstanding meritorious service in connection with ground operations against a hostile force in Vietnam. And most recently recognized posthumously in 2015 as a “St. Augustine Unsung Hero” for meritorious service in the civil rights movement of the 1950s to the 1960s by the Civil Rights Committee of St. Augustine. His name forever immortalized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC and St. John’s County Memorial Wall in St. Augustine, FL.
Help me complete what will be his ultimate honor and final resting place.... as PFC Williams journeys to Arlington National Cemetery remaining forever on higher ground indeed.
Still lifted up on his shoulders…
Lamar's Daughter,
Lamonda
One more thing! The honorable Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York's oldest and most historic baptist church, will officiate my father's burial service at Arlington. Praise God!
Click link: https://abyssinian.org/worship/ to see the powerfully moving and touching church announcement made on Sunday, July 14th, 2019. (34:00 min mark)
I dropped the phone and cried tears of joy when this recently happened.
God has shown His hand in a miraculous and powerful way as my Dad, PFC Lamar L. Williams, will be laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery nearly fifty years after fighting and dying for this country in one of the nation's worst wars.
I am Lamar's daughter, Lamonda.
I am in need of your help to make one of the biggest accomplishments & moments in my life become a reality:
This is a deeply touching and compelling story...
PFC Lamar L. Williams will be exhumed and disinterred from a racially segregated potter's field in St. Augustine, FL on July 23rd and re-interred at the prestigious Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019 finally getting the honor and notability he so befittingly deserves!!
This is a story of a daughter's fight to see her Dad, a brave black twenty-one year old American soldier, rise above the tragic deadly impact of the Vietnam War and a racially segregated post-Jim Crow south nearly fifty years after death.
My father was killed in action in Vietnam just one month after his twenty-first birthday and tragically a month shy of my very first birthday. Casualty #55003. PFC Lamar L. Williams arrived in South Vietnam January of 1971 and was dead by April - just three short months later.
My Dad was magnetic. He had a big smile and fun-loving personality! My ninety-year-old grandmother, Zethel, once told me that before my Dad went off to fight in the war he would lift me up on his shoulders and take me to get ice cream at the corner store every single day. But like so many young men in the late sixties and seventies, including a disproportionate number of Black men, my father was drafted to fight in the “conflict” of Vietnam. Ice cream runs, dreams and ambitions cut short.
The Army called it a hostile death. As told to the family, my Dad ventured up high in the mountain to fight the enemy instead of staying low in the valley. He died by the enemy’s sniper fire, ripping apart the lower part of his torso, and leaving behind a young widow to raise his baby daughter. That’s me. Today, I like to imagine that my Dad was led to higher ground in order to be closer to The Lord at the time of his untimely death.
But even more tragic my Dad's remains returned home to be buried in what is at best described as a potter’s field. A civilian cemetery in his hometown of St. Augustine, FL so unkempt and in such deplorable condition it will bring tears to your eyes!! Click the links and look at the pictures below to see the injustice and travesty still occurring today.
https://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/families-concerned-over-st-johns-county-abandoned-historical-cemetery/836456326
Systemic racism combined with a longstanding history and culture of de facto racial segregation that existed in a post-Jim Crow south didn’t “allow” my father to be buried in the local adjacent whites-only cemetery. Instead this is where he is buried.
https://www.staugustine.com/news/20180925/around-west-augustine-community-plans-to-clean-up-woodlawn-cemetery
https://www.firstcoastnews.com/article/money/consumer/on-your-side/on-your-side-cemetery-mix-up-leaves-st-augustine-family-very-upset/77-5455f0fe-954a-49e4-b6cb-2214429d5e7b
After making an appeal to the nation’s most esteemed military cemetery back in 2018, and initially being denied due to a government oversight in required documents for killed in action cases, my father was finally granted the highest honor of being buried at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019.
You should know that it was an overturned decision made nearly a year and a half later by... "somebody higher up than me." These were the exact words Ms. Flanagan, the person who handles all killed in action cases at Arlington, said to me when she called with the wonderful news. You got that right... SOMEBODY higher up indeed. :)
A victory yes!! But there’s no financial support. My Mom and I have to cover 100% of the cost in order for August 7th to become a reality.
Out-Of-Pocket Costs:
* Exhumation to disinter the remains
* New casket to re-casket the remains
* Travel & transportation of the remains to Arlington, VA
* Experienced Funeral Home to oversee both the disinterment and re-interment
* Funeral Home fees associated with the unique nature of this service (exhumation 50 yrs later)
TOTAL: $7,000
Please take a look at the Pinello Funeral Home invoice below detailing the itemized costs listed above totaling $7,000.
I have also asked Veterans Affairs (VA) for financial assistance. We hope VA will champion my Dad and uphold the dutiful affairs of one of America’s brave soldiers killed in action in Vietnam by helping to pay for his burial at Arlington. But we still need you!! The family cannot rely 100% on a government agency to subsidize the cost.
How can you help? By making a memorial donation in honor of Lamar that will support his journey to Arlington.
It is tough for any of us to ask for help - especially me. Today, I stand humble and transparent before you.
SUGGESTED GIFT AMOUNT:
* Whatever your heart feels compelled to give.... any amount will help!
NOTE:
* I will be in charge of the expenses
* I respectfully request donations be made by Aug 1st - 6 days before the burial and Pinello Funeral Home due date for all monies
Some fifty years later after being buried in an unkempt racially segregated cemetery my father will receive full military honors that include a 7-soldier firing team to give a gun salute, a bugler to play “Taps,” and the presentation of national colors (aka the folding of the flag). By God’s grace and miraculous power my Dad will be buried alongside other great American heroes in Arlington like Thurgood Marshall, Medgar Evers, Robert F. Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, boxer Joe "Brown Bomber" Louis, and pioneer Matthew Henson (the first African-American to reach the North Pole and plant the American flag).
It is the most reverent way to pay tribute to my father by giving him the high respect and notability he so befittingly deserves after fighting and dying for this country in Vietnam.
Salute and remember PFC Williams! The recipient of a Purple Heart and posthumously given the Military Merit Medal from the Government of the Republic of Vietnam. Also given the Bronze Star Medal for distinguishing himself by outstanding meritorious service in connection with ground operations against a hostile force in Vietnam. And most recently recognized posthumously in 2015 as a “St. Augustine Unsung Hero” for meritorious service in the civil rights movement of the 1950s to the 1960s by the Civil Rights Committee of St. Augustine. His name forever immortalized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, DC and St. John’s County Memorial Wall in St. Augustine, FL.
Help me complete what will be his ultimate honor and final resting place.... as PFC Williams journeys to Arlington National Cemetery remaining forever on higher ground indeed.
Still lifted up on his shoulders…
Lamar's Daughter,
Lamonda
One more thing! The honorable Rev. Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, Pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church, New York's oldest and most historic baptist church, will officiate my father's burial service at Arlington. Praise God!
Click link: https://abyssinian.org/worship/ to see the powerfully moving and touching church announcement made on Sunday, July 14th, 2019. (34:00 min mark)
Organizer
Lamonda Williams
Organizer
Teaneck, NJ
