(Story originally appeared November 7th, 2018)
By: Timothy Kays
If you’re from Stryker, you have to know Dr. Gery Williams. It’s just a natural thing. He has been working the Williams Chiropractic Clinic in town for over four decades, the same clinic that his parents founded back in 1956.
Dr. Williams is the husband of Bobie, and the father of Jeremy, Kenny, Olivia and Sophia. He is a member of the Stryker Class of 1969, and served in the Air National Guard, the Army National Guard and the Army Reserve during the Vietnam era. That’s where it gets interesting.
Dr. Williams is a very modest gentleman, and doesn’t consider himself to be a veteran. He believes that he doesn’t qualify for the title because his service did not send him abroad. “I believe that the real heroes are the ones who went,” he said.
Members of his family have tried to impress upon him that military service to America, be it foreign or domestic, is still service and it qualifies him as a veteran. “I did two years of premed,” Dr. Williams explained, “…and then I had a year and a half off, so that’s when I went into the service in 1972.”
“I did two years with the Air Force, and then when I took my last four years of college at Palmer College (of Chiropractic) in Davenport, Iowa, I transferred over there.”
“Since the closest Air National Guard Base was 186 miles away in Des Moines, and the closest Army National Guard was two miles down the road, I switched. I went into an Army National Guard for my last four years.”
“Actually I spent one year here in Bryan in the Army Reserves after I started practice here in 1976. I came back and I started with my dad. My dad and my mom…they founded the clinic. I just celebrated my 42nd anniversary here on October 25.”
Breaking down his post high school timeline in detail, Dr. Williams said, “I started working in a factory, and started saving money up for college.”
“From 1969 to the end of December of 1971, I did two years of pre-med…one year in the Bowling Green branch over here in Bryan, and then to get my labs in, I did my final year at Toledo University.”
“Then in the beginning of ‘72, my dad wanted me to start Palmer right away. I wanted a break; I was tired of school so unbeknownst to him, I went over and I signed up for the Air National Guard.”
“I knew that he couldn’t get me out of that. I loved being around airplanes like my dad; he loved to fly too. I got on as a weapons mechanic, so we got to work on jets. I signed up in the beginning of February, got shipped out in March, and by August I was back home.”
“The following year in 1973,” Dr. Williams continued, “…we had our first summer camp out there at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho. It was August and it was hot, but it was cool.”
“We got to fly out in two airliners that they got just for us. At that time, the F-4s and some F-100s flew alongside of us and escorted us for a while, then all of a sudden they just put the pedal to the metal and – poof – disappeared.”
“We were in there cheering, ‘Wow! Those are the planes we get to work on.’ That was a pretty awesome experience. By that time, I had signed up for Palmer College of Chiropractic in Davenport, Iowa, and so in the fall of ‘73, I went to Davenport. By January of ‘74, I had to sign up or be AWOL, so I signed up for the Army National Guard over there.”
“They sent me a nice little letter…I had completely forgotten about it. I served there for three years because I did my four years of chiropractic and three by consolidating and going year round…not taking the summers off.”
“Then when I came back, I started here October 25th, 1976. I was in the Army Reserve in Bryan until February of ‘78. Going to school full time and working a job at the same time is a tough row to hoe. When that job is the military, it gets even tougher.
“I was with the Air Force 180th Tactical Fighters first,” Dr. Williams said, “…and then the 186th Armory; I was in surveying. Then I came back here and went into the Army Reserve. So I went Air National Guard, Army National Guard, Army Reserve.”
“Because I kept switching around my specialty, I never made more than SPC-4, because you’ve got to be in a specialty for so long to make rank.” Another qualifier to prove that Dr. Williams is indeed a veteran is the job that he used to have.
“I was a weapons mechanic,” he said. “I worked on the jets where we had to learn the armament…the bombs and guns. We’d load them up, and take them down. they put us at the end of a runway in a shack. It was steel, so in the summertime it was like an oven.”
“When the jets came up, we would have to load them up with their armament for that day. They flew their sorties, and then when they came back at the end of the day, we’d have to download them and take the live rounds back, if there was any.”
“That was my work, except for on the days they weren’t flying when we had to do functional tests. We’d always draw straws to see who gets to sit in the cockpit and set the bombs and guns and everything up, because we always loved doing that.”
“You had to go and plug this big roll-around thing, into the pylons and into the guns so it was into one system, and then the guy in the cockpit would say, ‘okay, firing guns on the left,’ or ‘dropping bombs.”
“Then you pull a button, set up the switches and drop them. Then the lights would light up on the computer down there to let him know they’re still working. In the army, I was survey.”
“We were always out in the field, first to set up to artillery sites and survey them in, and then basically the same thing when I came to Bryan. It was called something different; I don’t remember anymore what it was.”
The 1960s and 1970s were turbulent times, and those serving in the military during that time often found themselves in the eye of the storm. It was the same for Dr. Williams, even though he never served abroad.
While working with the 160th Tactical Fighter Group out of Toledo, Dr. Williams got along with the civilian population just fine…but just as long as he wore civilian clothes. Once he wore his uniform in public though, Gery Williams had a target on his back, and was subject to the vitriol of the day, including being referred to as, ‘baby killer.’
Vietnam-era veterans finally got a break, and began receiving the respect for which they have earned, but it took the events of September 11, 2001 to make it happen. Today, according to Dr. Williams, “If they know I’m a veteran, they’ll thank me instead of ignoring me, giving me weird looks or calling me a name.”
Considering the slings and arrows that he endured, Dr. Williams still recommends the military to the kids of today. “Oh, definitely,” he said. “If you’re healthy enough and can withstand it, I think is an obligation we owe our country. It’s part of growing up too, because my mom and dad noticed the difference at just four and a half months.”
“I had gone to boot camp and then technical training, and when I came back, my whole mentality had changed. For one thing, I respected and appreciated the stuff my parents did. I grew up pretty fast going through the military, and I’ve seen that with young people coming through here that I’ve treated as patients. They go into military, come back, and they’re a man or a young lady that’s very responsible. It teaches you discipline.”
“As far as the education that you get from the military,” Dr. Williams continued, it depends on what MOS you’re going into. The MOS is basically what training you’re going for. You’re not going to use weapons mechanic too much, because only pertinent to jets.”
“I just feel it would be a real learning application, if they could get into something that they could learn from, something that they can apply to when they get out. My son in law was in the Army. He did IT training, so he’s into the computers and all that stuff.”
“He can use it in his line of work. After six years, he got and found a job that paid decent, but the insurance costs were so high. It was cheaper in the Army, so he signed back up so that he could get the military discount.”
“He’s in the reserves right now like I was. He has to drive three hours once a month to go to drills, but he already served his time. He was in Afghanistan and the whole nine yards. I’m really proud of that guy.”
Dr. Williams encourages the kids of today to be respectful of veterans, despite the fact that he still doesn’t consider himself to be one.
“Appreciate your freedom,” he said; “…it’s not free. I guess I just have respect for military people because my dad was World War II; my grandfather was World War I. Dad was a medic, and his dad was police. They had a lot worse time than I ever did. I stayed Stateside.”
The next time that you see Dr. Williams, do remember to thank him for his service. He might be too humble to consider himself to be a veteran, but he has a service record that speaks otherwise.
He didn’t wear the uniform of just one branch of the service… he wore three, all while going to school to learn the art that he now practices in Downtown Stryker, Ohio.
Timothy can be reached at tim@thevillagereporter.com
1 Comment
Love the article.
Brought back alot of memories.