On October 31, 1966, Boatswain’s Mate First Class James E. Williams was leading two small U.S. Navy patrol boats through the Mekong Delta when the river suddenly became a battlefield.
Williams was the boat captain of PBR 105 and patrol officer for the two-boat formation. The Sailors were searching an isolated stretch of the delta when two enemy sampans opened fire. Williams ordered his crews to answer. One enemy boat was neutralized; the other fled into a nearby river inlet.
Williams followed.
The pursuit carried the patrol into a concentrated enemy position. Small-arms and rocket-propelled-grenade fire erupted from concealed positions along the banks. Ahead were two larger junks and eight sampans, supported by heavy automatic-weapons fire from shore.
The two American boats were outnumbered and exposed at close range. Williams kept them moving.
He maneuvered through the fire and repeatedly led attacks against groups of enemy vessels. He coordinated the guns aboard both PBRs, called for support from the Navy’s HA(L)-3 “Seawolves,” and continued pressing the action as daylight began to fail.
When the helicopters arrived, darkness created another problem: the crews could no longer clearly identify the positions they were attacking. Williams ordered the patrol boats’ searchlights switched on.
The beams illuminated the riverbanks for the gunners and helicopters. They also made the PBRs easier to see.
Williams accepted the exposure and kept directing the fight.
For three hours, the patrol and supporting helicopters struck enemy boats and fortified positions across the river complex. By the end of the engagement, more than fifty enemy vessels had been destroyed or lost, and a major logistics operation had been disrupted.
For his extraordinary courage and battle leadership, James E. Williams received the Medal of Honor. He would become known as the most highly decorated enlisted Sailor in United States Navy history.
He did not overcome the odds with size or firepower. He overcame them by thinking faster, maneuvering harder, trusting his Sailors, and refusing to surrender the initiative.
Tenacity is taking command when the trap closes around you—and finding a way to turn an ambush into an offensive.
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