[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 124 (Thursday, September 28, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1857-E1858]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




 THE STORY OF TED WILLIAMS--A NATIVE SON OF CALIFORNIA AND AN AMERICAN 
                                  HERO

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. JOHN CAMPBELL

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                     Wednesday, September 27, 2006

  Mr. CAMPBELL of California. Mr. Speaker, born on April 24th, 1921 in 
Hawthorne, California, Theodore (``Ted'') Ralph Williams was delivered 
into a family divided by divorce and early hardships. Fortunately, the 
happiest years of his youth were spent with his mother, step-father and 
siblings on a 35-acre citrus nursery and farm which skirted the eastern 
border of the giant Irvine Ranch in Orange County, California. It was 
on the farm where Williams developed the strong work ethic and key 
survival skills which have served him so well over the course of his 
life.
  Following the death of his beloved step-father in 1935 and his 
family's ensuing financial challenges, Ted Williams left Tustin High 
School during his senior year and enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. On 
January 18, 1940, he was sworn in as a ``Boot Marine'' and immediately 
deployed to the Philippine Islands where he was stationed in the Manila 
area near Clark Field, Cavite and Mariveles, part of the 4th Marine 
Regiment and home port to the 16th Naval District Fleet. Less than a 
year later, on December 7th, 1942, the United States was attacked by 
the Japanese at Pearl Harbor. The very next day, the Japanese attacked 
the Philippines; and Williams found himself cut-off from the rest of 
the world.
  Alone, hungry and wounded, Williams and his military comrades waged a 
brave three-month fight against the enemy yet, ultimately, were forced 
to join a massive surrender--and the infamous Bataan Death March. For a 
week, more than 75,000 American prisoners marched 160 kilometers in the 
searing April heat toward primitive prison camps. Along the way, 
Williams and his fellow soldiers were aided by Filipino civilians, 
mostly women and children, who heroically provided water and food to 
the survivors of the march. Ultimately however, more than 10,000 
soldiers died at the hands of the enemy through torture, disease, 
starvation and murder. Surviving the march yet in failing health, 
Williams was eventually sent to The Zero Ward at Bilibid, a dilapidated 
prison functioning as a crude hospital. There he recovered from amebic 
dysentery only to suffer a host of new injuries brought-on by harsh 
prison labor that lasted for nearly two years.
  In June 1944, he was sent to a prison camp in the north at Cabanatuan 
where he was assigned to the torturous runway construction crew. A 
month later, Williams was shipped via prisoner boat transport (known as 
Hell Ships) to Camp 17 in Kyushu, Japan, where he served as a slave 
laborer in a coal mine, followed by time served at Camp 1 in Fukuoka, 
Japan. On August 25th, 1945, just weeks after the bombing of Hiroshima 
and Nagasaki, Williams and his fellow POWs were released by their 
captors.
  Discharged from the Marine Corps in 1946, Williams returned to Orange 
County and married Dolores Wallace, whom he later divorced. After a 
series of odd jobs, Williams built a steady career with Sears in 
Southern California. In 1972, he moved to Santa Ana, where he met and 
married Lillian May Phipps, his travel companion and fellow adventurer. 
It was Lillian who brought Williams back to the Philippines to retrace 
his POW experiences, a trip Williams has since made 21 times. In 
February of 1979, Williams underwent open heart surgery and, as part of 
his physical and emotional recovery, began work on ``Rogues of 
Bataan,'' an autobiographical account of the Bataan Death March. Just 
one year later, Lillian died from liver cancer.
  Inspired by his late wife's kind and generous heart, Williams 
embarked on a series of charitable efforts including the funding of an 
orphanage in Mexico and the founding of TERI, Inc. (Training, Education 
and Research Institute) in Oceanside, CA, a private nonprofit agency 
providing residential care, education, job training, employment, and 
other programs and services for people with all sorts of developmental 
disabilities and special needs. Upon a return trip to the Philippines 
with other survivors of the Bataan Death March, Williams spearheaded 
the effort to build, equip and staff an elementary school on the 
Philippine Island of Corregidor. During this period in his life, 
Williams returned to his writing and completed ``Rogues of Bataan,'' 
which was first published in 1999 and has since been re-released with 
all proceeds benefiting TERI, Inc. In 2003, Williams embarked on the 
creation of the Corregidor School Fund which has since built and 
furnished the Llamas Memorial Institute in Mariveles, Bataan, 
Philippines, an educational library which was officially dedicated on 
July 4, 2006. In recognition of his charitable works, community service 
and humanitarian efforts to the Filipino people, Ted Williams was 
placed on the prestigious ``Perpetual Honor Roll'' for the Order of the 
Knights of Rizal (as chartered by the Philippine government) on March 
16, 2006. Now, at age 85 and in failing health, Ted Williams is worthy 
of his own special recognition by the United States of America. This 
native son of Southern California is a true American Hero, a passionate 
patriot and a caring and humble community servant.

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