The Good Life – July-August 2020

LOCAL HERO | ART WILLIAMS
The Tuskegee Pilots were the only
African-American pilots in World War
II. Afterward the Tuskegee Squadron
disbanded in 1949 and those who
stayed with the Air force were shipped
over to Europe and elsewhere around
the world. After the Second World
War was over, Colonel Williams was
stationed in Germany. The Colonel,
Art, his mother and siblings lived in
Germany from 1949 until 1952. From
1954 until 1958 they lived in France,
where Art attended a French School as
the only American private boys school,
until 1958 when another move was
made. This time the move was back
to the United States capital city where
Art graduated from a Washington, D.C.
high school in 1960.
Ohio Coeds and Co-mingling
Art moved with his family when his
father was transferred to Wright
Patterson Air Force Base after Art
graduated from High School. Four
years later, Art finished college at
Central State and joined the Army.
Colonel Williams, Art’s mother and
siblings moved to Taiwan.
Art said, “I’ve been called a survivor”
due to having “bounced around so
much as a kid and as an adult,” while
explaining as to how he views himself
as well as life.
Art explained what he thinks by
saying, “What I found is that many
of us who have traveled and moved
away from friends and family tend to
become very flexible or wind up really
broken. I learned to become kind of
flexible.” Thinking about Art as an only
son of a higher ranking military man,
graduating with a degree in Math and
then becoming a twelve-year military
person himself, one might presume
that Art might have a much higher
tendency to be a bit ‘rigid.’ Art is a
Mathematician. Generally speaking
often there is no flexibility when
computing the numbers end of
anything. The answer is either correct
or it’s wrong! Yet in interviewing this
soft-spoken man, I never got a vibe
that he is someone who is incapable of
looking beyond or outside the scope of
“procedure and protocol” so to speak.
16 / THE GOOD LIFE
Flexibility means having the ability to
reach an alternative plan that yields
the conclusion hoped for.
Three Tours Into Hell
After his college days at Central State
College in Ohio, Art spent twelve years
in a soldier’s suit. During those twelve
years, Art spent three years in Vietnam.
He volunteered to go with the Ninth
Infantry Division into Vietnam his first
time and second tours; from 1966 until
1968. Art said, “as a Commissioned
Field Artillery Officer, he needed to
see it and experience what the troops
experienced in order to understand
what the soldiers he was commanding
were going through and how they
dealt with what they had to endure.” It
was his way of learning how he could
become a better Field Commander.
His second tour was during the Tet
Offensive, known for having the “worst
fighting.” As the Battery Commander
in the Mekong Delta, his Division
was Staff Headquarters during the
planning of the invasion into Cambodia.
When his tour was completed after
the second tour, he was shipped back
stateside to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma to train
for the Officers Advance Course.
Fourteen months later, Art decided to
go back once more. The Invasion of
Cambodia was during his third tour
as he served with the Cavalry Division-
Airmobile. Art described it as the team
that “does everything by air; helicopters
primarily. The simple answer is to
watch the movie Apocalypse Now.”
“After my third tour I served as
an Assistant Professor of Military
Science at Virginia State College
where I completed requirements for
a Masters of Education degree. I was
then assigned to Germany where I
Commanded a Nuclear Capable Field
Artillery battery.”
At the end of his third tour, Art decided
it was time to leave active duty to
return to civilian life. Art liked many
of the places he adopted and made his
home. One of them happens to be a
suburb of Minneapolis-St. Paul where
Art and Marie, his wife of the last
twenty-nine years met. Art also liked
Denver during most of the fourteen
years he, Marie and their two children
lived there. By the time they left, Art
said he was definitely ready to move
away. Too many people had moved into
his little mountain town where he did
more IT Tech and consulting work for
many companies around the country.
Art and Marie moved to Fargo
approximately four years ago. Art’s last
gig was with Corelink Administrative
Solutions as a Project Manager in
2010.
When I asked Art “so have you found
where or which area or city you liked
the most?” He smiled from ear to ear
and said, “FARGO! It’s just the best
place!” According to Art the West
Fargo, Fargo and Moorhead people are
“A-number One’s” in his opinion.
Art Williams is a Vietnam Vet and
because of his experiences in Vietnam
as well as the PTSD he’s suffered
with, he feels for anyone who has
the misfortune to have so much
trauma in their lives regardless of
when it happened. Art also visits and