Arland D. Williams Jr. (1935-1982) was a passenger aboard Air Florida Flight 90 which crashed on take-off in Washington, DC on January 13, 1982, killing 78 persons. He was among the only six persons to initially survive the crash. His actions after the crash, handing the initial rescue efforts as a first responder, became a well-known example of extraordinary heroism, although it cost him his life. He did not know any of the other victims personally. In fact, his identity was not even known until some time after the bodies were recovered.

In the words of a clergyman,

"His heroism was not rash. Aware that his own strength was fading, he deliberately handed hope to someone else, and he did so repeatedly. On that cold and tragic day, Arland D. Williams Jr. exemplified one of the best attributes of human nature, specifically that some people are capable of doing "anything" for total strangers."

Air Florida Flight 90

The disaster occurred during an extraordinarily cold blizzard and horrific weather conditions. Air Florida Flight 90 was cleared for take off but due to extensive ice formation on the wings, the plane could not gain sufficient altitude and crashed into the 14th Street Bridge complex over the Potomac River less than one mile from the runway. The plane plunged into the river which was covered with a layer of ice up to an inch thick in some areas. Only the tail initially remained above the ice.

As the six survivors clung to the tail section of the wreck, one citizen, Roger Olian, who witnessed the crash on his way home from work, attempted to reach the survivors, assisted by other motorists and civilian bystanders who used jumper cables, scarves, and anything they had available to create a lifeline. After approximately eighteen minutes in the freezing water, a helicopter arrived, and Olian was reeled back to shore by the volunteers working with him.

Passing the lifeline

News cameramen watched helplessly from the bridge, recording the disaster for the rest of the world to see.

Suddenly, hope arrived. At approximately 4:20 PM EST, Eagle 1, a United States Park Police helicopter based at Anacostia Park in Washington DC and manned by pilot Donald W. Usher and paramedic Melvin E. (Gene) Windsor arrived and assisted at great risk to themselves, with the rescue operation. At one point in the operation they helicopter was so close to the ice-clogged river that the skids went beneath the surface of the water.

According to the other five survivors, one passenger was pinned to the fuselage of the plane, but continued to help the others reach the rescue ropes being dropped by the hovering helicopter, repeatedly passing the line to others instead of using it himself. After lifting and towing two badly injured passengers to shore one at a time, an attempt was made to use two lines to haul three more, but as the tow to shore was underway, the two fell back into the icy water.

As fatigue set in, one of the survivors was too weak to grab the line again, so another bystander, a government office assistant Lenny Skutnik, stripped off his coat and boots, and in short sleeves, dove into the icy water, and swam out to assist her. The helicopter then proceeded to where the other had fallen, and paramedic Gene Windsor dropped from the safety of the helicopter into the water to attach a line to her. While the other five were being taken to shore by the helicopter, the tail section of the wrecked Boeing 737 shifted and sank further into the water, dragging the last survivor under the water with it.

The next day, The Washington Post described his heroism:

"He was about 50 years old, one of half a dozen survivors clinging to twisted wreckage bobbing in the icy Potomac when the first helicopter arrived. To the copter's two-man Park Police crew he seemed the most alert. Life vests were dropped, then a flotation ball. The man passed them to the others. On two occasions, the crew recalled last night, he handed away a life line from the hovering machine that could have dragged him to safety. The helicopter crew - who rescued five people, the only persons who survived from the jetliner - lifted a woman to the riverbank, then dragged three more persons across the ice to safety. Then the life line saved a woman who was trying to swim away from the sinking wreckage, and the helicopter pilot, Donald W. Usher, returned to the scene, but the man was gone,"

source: "A Hero - Passenger Aids Others, Then Dies", The Washington Post, January 14, 1982.

Identifying the mystery hero

The passenger who had survived the crash and had repeatedly given up the rescue lines to other survivors before drowning was later identified as a forty-six year-old bank examiner from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Arland D. Williams Jr. The coroner determined that he was the only passenger in the wreckage whose body revealed that he had died from drowning rather than impact injuries suffered in the crash.

Honors, memoriam

The four other heroes of the Air Florida rescue who also risked their lives but survived were honored shortly after the disaster.

It took some time to investigate and any establish without any doubt the identity and extraordinarily heroic and selfless behavior of Arland D. Williams Jr. His actions caused him to stand out even among the other four outstanding heroes of that tragic day.

On June 6, 1983, Arland D. Williams Jr. was posthumously awarded the United States Coast Guard's Gold Lifesaving Medal in a White House Oval Office presentation to his family by U.S. President Ronald Reagan and U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth H. Dole. Mrs. Virginia Williams, mother of Arland D. Williams Jr., accepted the medal on her son's behalf. Other participants in the ceremony included the recipient's father, Arland, his children, Arland the Third and Leslie Ann, and his sister, Jean Fullmer. Also present were Vice Admiral Benedict L. Stabile and Vice Commandant of the United States Coast Guard, Commander D. C. Addison , United State Senator Charles H. Percy and Representative Daniel B. Crane of Illinois.

There was an even greater lasting tribute to Arland D. Williams Jr.:

The repaired 14th Street Bridge over the Potomac River at the crash site, which had been officially named the "Rochambeau Bridge", was renamed the "Arland D. Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge" in his honor by the city government of the District of Columbia. Thousands of motorists on busy Interstate 395 cross it every day.

Williams was a 1957 graduate of The Citadel, the Military College of South Carolina. In his honor, in 2000, The Citadel created the Arland D. Williams Society to recognize graduates who distinguished themselves through community service. The Citadel also established the Arland D. Williams Endowed Professorship of Heroism in his honor.

In August 2003, the new Arland D. Williams Jr. Elementary School in his hometown of Mattoon in Coles County, Illinois was dedicated to the memory of Arland D. Williams Jr.

See main article Air Florida Flight 90 for more information about the crash and rescue.