Veterans Magazine 2021 - The War in Korea

Gerald
Williamson
U.S. Air Force
By: Will Oliver
“Any flight coming in or going out, we had a hold on it,”
Williamson said.
From there, he was sent to Germany until August 1951,
working some aerial radar from the plane itself. He noted
they flew 32 missions in 32 days.
Williamson mentioned he had plenty of sports experience
since he played football, baseball and basketball during
high school. At some point, he was offered a position on the
baseball and basketball teams in the 20th Air Force League,
competing against other military teams throughout England,
Spain and Germany.
“The best part of the Air Force was the guys you met, you
know what I mean?” Williamson said. “You lived and died
with them.”
Following his time in the Air Force, he went to school at the
University of Notre Dame to study physical education.
Gerald Williamson, a native of Cortland, New York, said he
comes from a broad military lineage.
Following his high school graduation, he shared that he
played professional baseball for one season with a team in
the Braves farm system and could have gone further in the
sport, but he chose to serve his country.
Williamson said he was always interested in the Air Force
more so than the other military branches. He served a
four-year enlistment, beginning in December 1950 until his
discharge in December of 1954.
His first deployment location was Lackland Air Force Base in
San Antonio, Texas, and at some point following, he attended
school in Biloxi, Mississippi, to become a radar observer.
From there, he went on to become the coach of a New
York private school, teaching football, basketball, baseball,
wrestling and golf. Later, he went on to coach at a North
Carolina school until his retirement in 1996.
Williamson said a few of his children ended up serving and
being deployed in Warner Robins so he and his wife made
their way down to middle Georgia post-retirement.
His dad was a World War I veteran and four of his uncles
served in World War II in Belgium and at Midway to name
some places.
His brother-in-law fought at the Battle of the Bulge, and
including Williamson, he’s one of over 20 veterans coming
before and after him. Military veterans in his family include
sons, daughters, grandchildren and even his recently
graduated 17-year-old great-granddaughter who is going
into the Coast Guard.
November 2021
The WAR in KOREA
11