nothin Fallen Soldier Gets A Sister’s Kiss | New Haven Independent

Fallen Soldier
Gets A Sister’s Kiss

Allan Appel Photo

As families gathered for a solemn ceremony at the great V on Long Wharf, Judy Williams knelt down and found her baby brother’s name.

I can’t kiss him on the lips, so I kiss his name on the monument,” she said.

Williams performed her private ceremony at the end of a public remembrance of the war dead that drew 30 people to the soaring Vietnam Veterans Memorial cenotaph Sunday afternoon.

She found her brother’s name, Malcolm G. Williams, third from the bottom of the third column of the 55 names on the monument.

A graduate of James Hillhouse High, Malcolm G. Williams served in an engineers’ unit in the army in Vietnam. He was killed in action in Pleiku, said Judy Williams in brief and moving remarks.

Malcolm Williams’ widow Marie was also in attendance and tightly held the arm of her sister-in-law during the proceedings, which were conducted by Retired Colonel Kenneth Gertz and other members of the Mayor’s Veterans’ Affairs Advisory Committee.

Marie Williams recalled that her husband was killed on Feb. 22, 1970, three days after his 25th birthday. I was at my mother’s house when they come to tell you,” she recalled. He had been in Vietnam for only a short time.

Marie Williams (right) and Judy Williams.

As each of the 55 names was called out, one stroke of a ceremonial bell was sounded. When Malcolm Williams’ name was called, Judy Williams performed her private rite. Then Marie placed a bouquet of roses at the base of the monument nearby. It helps us all to remember him,” she said.

Malcolm Williams’ kids were tiny when he died. Now there are 13 grandchildren, whom he never knew. A grand nephew named Nicholas was also at the ceremony. A 16-year-old at the Sound School, Nicholas is part of the Marine Cadets unit headquartered at Fort Nathan Hale.

As the ceremony proceeded beneath light breezes coming in from the harbor, white-haired vets laid floral wreaths both at the V and also at smaller monuments for Purple Heart veterans and veterans of the Korean War. The most recent monument in the environs of the great V” was erected in 2009 by the New Haven Grays of the 102nd Infantry Division to memorialize those killed in recognition of their service in the war on terrorism.”

Major James McClean and Master Staff Sgt. Adam Walker.(Ret.).

Major James McLean of the Connecticut Army National Guard and Retired Master Sgt. Adam Walker, of New Haven and the New Haven Grays, both noted that the monument leaves sobering room for more names to be added.

The Mayor’s Veterans’ Affairs Advisory Committee is in the process of raising money for a plaque to honor the vets of World War II. That plaque would fill a hole in what already amounts to a kind of informal memorial park at Long Wharf.

Retired Air Force National Guard Master Sgt. and vets committee member Frank Alvarado said money is now being raised for a plaque to be added to the others, now on display in a specially designated area on the second floor of City Hall. The plaques were retrieved before the demolition of the Coliseum, which had been officially monikered the [World War II] Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Those interested in contributing can call Alvarado at (203)214‑3398.

After Gertz and other speakers highlighted the importance of remembering, Judy Williams added about her brother and the other men on the V: These men know you’re here.”

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