Carrying on a Marine’s torch

Updated Nov. 26

Woodrow (“Woody”) Williams was a veterans’ veteran. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps as a lance corporal, and saw combat in Vietnam. He died on Veterans Day earlier this month at the age of 74, from complications of Agent Orange poisoning — a powerful herbicide used during Vietnam that has contributed to the death of an estimated 300,000 veterans who were exposed. Williams led a lifetime of advocating for soldiers suffering from PTSD after serving, and his family said he helped to lead a class action against the chemical companies that manufactured Agent Orange, which Vietnamese government officials say took 3 million Vietnamese lives through exposure.

Now Williams’ family will be carrying his torch forward, and helping veterans in need of services here on the Island. 

Williams was with his wife and daughter, Phyllis and Vanessa Williams, when he died in hospice care at his Vineyard Haven home. Vanessa told The Times the primary cause of death was declared to be chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Woody had suffered from severe emphysema, and his family said his lung condition was a result of Agent Orange poisoning during his service. The family added that Williams also suffered for many years with post-traumatic stress disorder connected to his experience in combat, which had haunted him since just after he returned from service in 1970.

Woody graduated from Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School in 1969, and almost immediately was shipped off to serve in Vietnam. After a tour of duty of nine months fighting in the jungles of Vietnam, his family says, he was never quite the same, and in many ways he never stopped fighting the war. He struggled with anxiety, depression, and bursts of violence for many years until he finally received the psychological counseling he needed. He fought with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) for the benefits he deserved, and he fought for others to be treated more fairly by the VA. And he joined the class action to be sure that those who were exposed to Agent Orange were diagnosed and provided benefits. He even planted a grove of bamboo in his backyard. The same plants he navigated through on the frontlines he would tended to later in life as a part of his healing process after the war.

To honor the late Marine, Vanessa and Phyllis established a donor-advised charitable fund, the Woody Williams Veterans Advocacy Project, to financially support programs helping veterans and their families. The campaign was set up on Givebutter, a fundraising platform for nonprofits, and all donations, which are tax-deductible, will be sent to the fund maintained through Fidelity Charitable, which manages charitable accounts. Vanessa said this will let them invest and grow the fund to “help the donations go further” through grants. As of Tuesday, $6,655 had been raised from donations so far. 

“It’s been an overwhelming response,” Vanessa said. “I’m really moved by the Island’s kindness.”

Vanessa said they were considering awarding the first grant to either the Island Housing Trust’s veterans housing project in Oak Bluffs or the Marines Toys for Tots program; possibly a mixture of both. Vanessa said they also want to highlight that the struggle of families working to support returning veterans is often overlooked. “I hope sharing pieces of our stories throughout the years can give a human side,” she said. 

Vanessa said Woody needed to fight hard against the thicketed bureaucracy of the U.S. Department of Veterans’ Affairs to get the benefits he was owed after returning from Vietnam, and he encountered numerous roadblocks. Eventually, he managed to get ahold of two manuals used by the VA to determine claims for compensation, and Vanessa said he “reverse-engineered” the application packet. Vanessa said Woody would gain “total and permanent status” in disability benefits from the effects of Agent Orange and PTSD. He also used his newfound knowledge to help other veterans gain federal claims they were owed. 

“It was almost like a walk-in clinic at our house when I was a kid,” she said. 

The first person to receive Woody’s help in filing VA claims was Skipper Mayhew, a fellow Islander and longtime friend of Williams, as well as a U.S. Army veteran. Mayhew served as a medic in the 25th Infantry Division during the Vietnam War, and Mayhew said he too encountered a “total stonewall” when trying to get benefits from the VA after returning from Vietnam. 

“It almost completely destroyed me,” Mayhew said of his wartime experience, recalling the heavy amounts of triage he had had to perform overseas, and the adrenaline keeping him alive under the stress. 

It was Woody, he said, who guided him to get the help he needed back home, and Mayhew said he now supports the Williams family’s efforts. “I’d give a few bucks to that,” he said. “It wouldn’t be fair if I didn’t give back.”

Woody also helped veterans in other ways, from collecting and sending care packages to service members during the Gulf War to helping lead a class action against Dow Chemical and Monsanto for the damage done to Vietnam veterans by Agent Orange, the toxic herbicide used by the U.S. military to destroy plant cover and enemy crops. Locally, Woody was one of the founders of a combat veterans support group established in the 1980s and run by Martha’s Vineyard Community Services. 

Tom Bennett, the U.S. Air Force veteran who oversees the support group now, and was also Woody’s Little League coach, noted that Woody’s drive to help other veterans stemmed from coming “back home to a country that seemed like another foreign land” after enduring “the horrors of war in Vietnam.” 

Woody, who eventually adjusted to civilian life and became a leader in the veterans community, helped others who went through similar experiences. Bennett said the Williams family’s charity seemed “altogether fitting and proper” to carry on the late Marine’s legacy. 

“Through his years of helping other veterans, he found renewed meaning and purpose in his life, his mission, all while drawing from the love of his family and others he came to trust and learn from,” Bennett said. “He is a fellow American who never stopped trying to become a better person and contribute to the common good. He is gone but will not be forgotten, and we already miss him.” 

Phyllis, who was married to Woody for 43 years, said her husband was always trying to help people, even in the final weeks of his life, so she and her daughter wanted to find a way for him to “live on in people’s minds.” 

“He was always there for everybody, and that’s how I want to remember him,” Phyllis said. 

Vanessa said she is inspired by her father’s ability to go “full steam ahead” even if he wouldn’t directly benefit from the efforts he was supporting, including the veterans support group. At the time of starting the support group, he and Phyllis were considering a move to South Carolina, but ultimately decided against it. 

“That’s kind of what I always carried with me,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s the popular thing to do … You do the right thing because it’s the right thing to do.”

Updated with additional information about Woody Williams and the the fundraiser.