This is Tom Williams’ story, a decorated U.S. Marine. It focuses on Tom’s service in Vietnam in the late sixties. It is an enthralling account of what really took place on the battlefield. Unambiguously, it covers the lessons learned, deprivation of amenities, perils, and bloodshed.
But it is even more than that.
Tom Williams’ deep commitment to Marine Corps life stemmed from his father, U.S. Air Force Major Carl F. Williams Jr. At the age of six years old, after being abandoned by his biological father, Tom’s mother met and married Carl Williams, and Tom officially became Tom Williams. Suddenly he was travelling the world, living in foreign lands, learning about Ancient Roman history and archaeology, assimilating a basic conversance in the French, Arabic, and Japanese Languages, as well as being immersed in their respective cultures.
Later, the family settled on the family farm in Dooly County Georgia. Tom attended North Georgia College before going on to Marine Corps’ Officer Candidate School (OCS) at Quantico, Va. He graduated Platoon Honor Man, setting the Marine Corps O-Course record of fifty-two seconds and subsequently graduating in the top 10% of his 250-man Basic School class.
As an infantry officer, Tom deployed as a 2nd lieutenant to Vietnam in 1969-70 where he commanded an infantry platoon in Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, followed by commanding a reconnaissance platoon as a 1st lieutenant in Alpha Company, 1st Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division. As Tom fought the enemy, every day, without fail, he would record the day’s events in his diary. It is these diaries (which Tom has to this day), that enable him to tell the story of Vietnam in the late sixties/early seventies, like it really was.
This honest, unembellished account of America’s most controversial war will not only capture the interest of those who served but just as importantly, those who are still serving. The brilliant narrative, drawn from Tom’s war diaries, will have you, active-duty or not, engrossed from cover to cover. Follow his path to becoming an Officer of Marines—a multilinguist fighting and surviving in the mud-sucking rice paddies and leech infested jungles of Vietnam.
Doorsteps of Hell is a moving, riveting, and informative account, told in a style that everyone will easily follow. It is Tom’s story. It brings to life the camaraderie, leadership, and the very essence of military expertise in the Marine Corps