Eleazer Andrews Williams – Colonel, United States Army

From a contemporary press report:

Eleazer Andrews “Lee” Williams, 75, a Washington resident who was a decorated World War II combat veteran and retired Central Intelligence Agency operations officer, died February 24, 1999, at Georgetown University Hospital. He had a respiratory ailment.

He served in the CIA from 1954 to 1978. Over the years, he had been stationed in Paris, London, Miami, Saigon and Singapore.

During World War II, he served with the Army in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. The huge German winter counterattack took Allied forces by surprise. Colonel Williams, who had been trained as a Morse code radio operator, found himself carrying a rifle into combat.

Colonel Williams was wounded near Riquewihr, France, and received the Bronze Star with combat “V,” and the Purple Heart. After months in the hospital, he returned to active duty with a commission in military intelligence. He left active duty in 1946 and later retired from the reserve as a Colonel.

In 1994, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, he was decorated by the mayor of Riquewihr for his sacrifice in helping to liberate the town.

Colonel Williams, a native of Dalton, Massachusetts, was a 1949 graduate of Princeton University. He attended Harvard University law school before joining the
State Department in 1952.

He was a 1971 graduate of the National War College and also was the recipient of a master’s degree in international economics from George Washington University.

Colonel Williams was a member of the Foreign Policy Association, the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and the National Press Club.

Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Honor O’Rourke, and a son, Patrick, both of Washington; and a brother.


WILLIAMS, ELEAZER A

  • COL US ARMY
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: 01/19/1944 – 12/09/1983
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/09/1923
  • DATE OF DEATH: 02/24/1999
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 04/13/1999
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 65  SITE 4064

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