Looking for Viet Nam Friend “Mickey” Williams
I found your e-mail address on the Cocoa Beach High School alumni page (www.cbhsalumni.org). I am hoping that you may be able to help me locate a gentleman who served in Viet Nam with my husband. His name is Mickey Williams and I understand that he lived in or near Cocoa Beach. I believe he would have graduated from high school around 1966, 1967 or 1968. I have tried off and on for more than 10 years to find Mr. Williams. I can only assume Mickey is a nickname and as you know, Williams is a very common name. I would love for you to post it on your blog. I don’t know that Mickey even went to CBHS, but perhaps someone will know him.
Now that you’re somewhat involved in my “mission”, I’ll share with you my story. It’s a rather long, bitter/sweet story but I’ll try to keep it short: My husband, Jerry, was an MP in Vietnam. We were married a few months after he returned home in 1970. Four years later, we had a son. When Richard was only 13 months old, my husband was killed in a car accident. Richard, who is now 34, has no memory of his dad but has always wanted to know everything about him. About 10 years ago, I went through the letters Jerry wrote while in Vietnam. He mentioned “Larry D” repeatedly and it was obvious that they were very good friends. I started searching for this ”Larry D”. I didn’t know his last name but knew he lived somewhere in North Carolina. It’s a miracle that I actually found him. Larry was so excited when I called him as he had been trying to find my husband! The bitter part of the story is that Larry, of course, did not know that his old friend was no longer with us. Larry and his wife, Janice, flew to Missouri to meet my son and I to tell us about that part of my husband’s life that I could not share with my son. We had hundreds of pictures and Larry was the only one I knew who could tell us about them. We learned so much about their experience in the military that my husband never talked about. Larry identified Mickey Williams in several of our pictures and talked a lot about him. Many times he has said that he would like to find Mickey. There is so much more to this story, but in short, Larry and Janice are beautiful people and from that very first phone call, a wonderful friendship has grown. Out of gratitude and appreciation for all Larry and Janice have done, nothing would make me happier than to find Mickey and reunite these two old army buddies.
Again, you are very kind to offer to post this on your blog and thank you for the information on the newspapers, and some of the info you sent from MIHS. I truly appreciate your help.