Who Was Williams?

Just one day after the terrible crash and death of 74 people on board, as well as another 4 people on land, the Washington Post would talk about the hero that was Arland D. Williams, Jr. They shared, “He was about 50 years old, one of half a dozen survivors clinging to twisted wreckage bobbing in the icy Potomac when the first helicopter arrived. To the copter’s two-man Park Police crew he seemed the most alert. Life vests were dropped, then a flotation ball. The man passed them to the others. On two occasions, the crew recalled last night, he handed away a life line from the hovering machine that could have dragged him to safety. The helicopter crew – who rescued five people, the only persons who survived from the jetliner – lifted a woman to the riverbank, then dragged three more persons across the ice to safety. Then the life line saved a woman who was trying to swim away from the sinking wreckage, and the helicopter pilot, Donald W. Usher, returned to the scene, but the man was gone.”

He Was A Military Man

Apparently, Williams had attended college at The Citadel South Carolina Military Academy. He was 46-years old at the time, divorced with two children, but already set to be remarried to someone else. He had ended up a banker, but according to his former roommate in military school, Frank Webster, Williams’ sacrifice was not unexpected. He shared that what they learned was, “Always take care of your people first. That’s an unbreakable code. You go last. Your people go first.”