12/03/2025
WILLIAM J. DAVIS
Funeral services for William J. Davis are scheduled for 11:00 on Saturday December 13, 2025 at Shiloh Baptist Church, Gooseley Rd., Yorktown VA.
There will be a visitation from 10-11:00 am on Saturday and also from 6-8 pm Friday Dec.12, 2025 at Carter Funeral Home Denbigh Chapel.
William J. Davis was born on February 10, 1934, in Pittsburgh, PA to the late Beatrice & Robert Davis and was given the name Willie James Davis, which was later changed by the Pittsburgh School System while attending A Leo While Grade school on Center Ave to William J. Davis.
He served for more than 20 years in the U. S. Army. After completing several aviation schools at Fort Eustis, Virginia, he was station at Fort Richardson, Alaska, but worked on Elmendorf Air Force Base, both outside of Anchorage, Alaska. He was one of the first aviation personnel to be awarded proficiency pay in Alaska Command and remained so until retirement.
After being stationed in Alaska for three years he was transferred to a CH-21 helicopter unit at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. That unit was put on alert for duty to Viet Nam. He did not go with them, because he was picked to be one of the first enlistees to form the 22nd Special Forces Aviation Unit at Fort Bragg, N.C. He joined the unit on a Thursday and on that following Monday was attending a special class at DeHaven Aircraft Corporation in Toronto, Canada for six weeks on the CV-2B Caribou twin engine cargo airplane. He also later attended a special aircraft class at Eglin Air Force Base at Forces Aviation System.
In 1964, he was transferred to Vung Tau, Viet Nam for duty with the 61st Aviation Company. This unit flew the CV-2B Caribou. Every two weeks they exchange aircraft and flight crew in Bangkok, Thailand, during his tour his unit sent six aircraft in Udon Thani, Thailand where the assistant U.S. Ambassador to Thailand met them at Air American Headquarters. The Ambassador sent all the officers back to Viet Nam and put him in charge of the maintenance crew and aircraft. A He had met some of Air American’s flight crew at the special class at Eglin Air Force Base in Florida a few years before.
In 1965 he returned to the Military District of Washington (MDW) flight division at Fort Belvoir, VA. He met the Assistant Secretary of the Army trying to start a helicopter one morning without a fireguard. After a few hot words he asked him to help him move the helicopter to saft area where there was no fuel on the ground. If you see M.A.S.H. on TV, that was the type of helicopter, he was going to fly. The Operations Officer of the Day had come out and asked if he could fly with him. He got him a flight helmet and they took off. After a while they landed and the secretary told him that was the first time, he ever talked to a person of color one on one in a long time and he would like him to fly with him every time he came out to the airfield. I told him it would be an honor and when they returned to Davison Army Airfield, he told the Operations Officer to put Sgt. Davis down to fly with him every time he came to the base. The Secretary was his boss but also became his friend.
In 1967, about the 10th, the Space Shuttle the ENTERPRISE came into Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. on top of a special 747 aircraft. The space shuttle could not fly because it did not have any engines and little fire shield. The space shuttle came to Dulles for a special showing for members of Congress and VIPs. His boss, Colonel Neil Mansfield, asked him to call the Secretary office expecting to leave a message for the request, but his secretary told him to go out and that he would have someone meet them at the aircraft. They flew out of Dulles and received a tour of the aircraft. He was the first person of color to set in the pilot set of the Enterprise. That Space shuttle now sits in the Air & Space Museum in the front of the SR-71 “Blackbird” that set the speed record.
In 1972 from May 27th to June 4th he was the senior non-commissioned officer for the Army Transportation exhibit both indoors and outdoors “TRANSPO 72” at Dulles International Airport.
In the mid 90’s he went to Las Vegas, Nevada and talked to the grandson of the janitor who cleaned up the hospital of AREA 51 after some aliens were taken there for treatment, two of which were not moving for the crash site in Roswell, NM, in 1947. There is record of him signing for his pay. Back then you received your pay in cash since there was no bank at AREA 51.
He was the president of the Abraham Lincoln Chapter # 1 of the coalition of Retired Military Veterans (CORMV). His group was part of a group of military veterans that filed a lawsuit against the U.S, Government for not keeping its promise of no cost medical care for those who had served 20 years or more and their eligible dependents. He drove a hearse from Newport News to the U.S. Supreme Cort in Washington, D.C. on February 12, 2003. The casket was removed from the hearse and placed on the steps of the Supreme Court. The promise was made, but the bill was never passed by Congress.
He was an American Legion member for life at Post # 368, a member of the Denbigh Military Retirees Club for 25 years, and the Thursday Morning Breakfast Partners. He also loved to hunt and fish and had attended 19 NFL Super Bowl Championships.
He was preceded in death by his mother, father, two sisters Bernice Davis Lucas and her husband, Julian Lucas and Martha Jean Davis and her son, Lance R. Davis, his first wife, Myrties Gray Davis and his second wife, Edna Denise Brown Davis. He survived by his children, Cheryl Davis Waldren, Robert Davis (Michele), Brenda Lynn Brown (John), Samuel Thomasmosia and adopted son, Norman Harris. A brother-in-law, David Brown, Jr., (Rhonda) and six grandchildren by the names of Cleo, Andrew, Ayana (Austin), Victoria, and Matthew and two great-grandchildren, Amethyst and Aiden.m
