Let Them Fight: A Comedy History Podcast · Jacob Trimmer and Tim Groeschel

Ep. 593 James E. Williams

·1 hr 46 min·5 clips

Williams' patrol destroyed 50 enemy sandpans and seven junks in a single three-hour battle.

1. Let Them Fight: A Comedy History Podcast focuses on James E. Williams, a U.S. Navy sailor whose combat record spans Korea and Vietnam. 2. The hosts identify James Elliott Williams by name, call him a bosun’s mate first class, and explain that his Navy career matters because he accumulated an unusual number of combat awards. 3. The episode asks how a man from Fort Mill, South Carolina, became the most decorated enlisted man in U.S. Navy history. 4. Williams was born June 13, 1930, graduated from St. John’s High School in Darlington, South Carolina, and joined the Navy in August 1947 at age 17. 5. He trained at the Naval Training Center in San Diego and started as a landing-ship sailor who, in his own words, was stuck aboard a ship in San Diego harbor. 6. An old chief told Williams that taking orders, even when he disagreed, was the first step to being a good sailor and a good leader. 7. Williams says that lesson made discipline the springboard of his career and that he learned to keep “the sharpest damn knife and the shiniest shoes” in the Navy. 8. During the Korean War, he served on the destroyer USS Douglas H. Fox and led raiding parties into North Korea on small boats. 9. After Korea, he served on the USS Little Rock, married Elaine, and raised five children while staying in the Navy. 10. In 1966, he was sent to Vietnam as the commander of PBR 105 in River Squadron 5, patrolling the Mekong Delta. 11. The July 1, 1966 ambush begins with a friendly-looking sampan, then enemy fire from the boat and the river shoreline, and ends with five enemy dead and a Bronze Star. 12. Twenty-two days later, another sampan attack leads to the capture of documents and another Bronze Star for Williams. 13. On August 22, 1966, Williams faces nearly 100 Viet Cong gun emplacements on both sides of the river and keeps directing suppressive fire through the attack. 14. The citation says he detected a motorized sampan with two high-ranking Viet Cong passengers, took a face wound, and still held command while the patrol withdrew with the cargo. 15. That action earned him a Silver Star and resulted in the capture of 31 Viet Cong documents, including 12 secret and 58 confidential papers. 16. On October 31, 1966, his patrol meets another dense boat-and-riverbank ambush, and the citation records 50 enemy sandpans and seven junks destroyed during the fight. 17. The hosts emphasize his decision to turn on searchlights at night and keep attacking even as ammunition ran low and helicopters arrived. 18. On January 9, 1967, Williams jumps into a sinking dredge near Mito to rescue trapped survivors, including an elderly man inside the hull, which earns the Navy and Marine Corps Medal. 19. The episode is loud, bantering, and citation-heavy, with the hosts repeatedly reading official language and interrupting it with jokes and side conversations. 20. Listeners who like military history told through medal citations and profanity will get the most out of this episode, while people wanting sober analysis of Vietnam politics may skip it.

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