Visalia, CA, US
U.S. Army
PFC, CO D, 1ST BN, 12TH INF REGT, 4TH BCT, FORT CARSON, CO
07/24/2014, KANDAHAR, Afghanistan
The service commemorating the life of 19-year old United States Army PFC Keith Michael Williams was held at El Diamante High School August 9, 2014 in Visalia, CA. Keith attended Crestwood Elementary, Royal Oaks and Linwood Elementary, La Joya Middle school and graduated in 2011 from El Diamante High School. He participated in football, Drum Line, El Diamante Link Crew, and was part of the Homecoming Court 2013.
Keith was a SCICON camp counselor and an ASA softball umpire. He liked dove hunting, attending pow-wows, and just about any sport that kept him active including long boarding, snowboarding, skiing, and surfing. Keith loved listening to music and hanging out with his best friend Martin Sustaita. PFC Williams’s choice to join the US Army upheld a long tradition of service in his family.
After arriving home from work Frank Williams, PFC Williams’s father heard the news that has changed his life forever.
“I saw these two uniformed officers get out of their car and walk over. I thought they were going into the neighbors but when they walked across the street into my yard I knew what it was,” he explained. “I felt that sick, sad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I knew what it was.” Williams’ family came together just a day after learning Keith was killed.
“Death brings families together, and weddings bring families together, and we’ll never see that wedding, but we have to grieve for our boy,” said Frank Williams.
The 2013 El Diamante High School graduate enlisted in the Army shortly after high school. It was an option that Keith hoped would help him eventually go into law enforcement. One of his two older sisters described her brother as the class clown who always made them laugh.
“It’s killing me inside, to know that I won’t be able to see this kid who made me laugh so hard,” according to Chelsea Williams . “Then when it’s my time I’ll go be with him and I’ll see his beautiful face, and he was such a handsome boy, too,” Debbie Tuttle, Williams’s mother added.
Most of all, though, his family is proud that he put everything he had into being an American soldier.