Leroy Williams was 23 years old and had only been in Vietnam for about two weeks when he died on Oct. 3, 1965.
He was from Newark and his body was brought back and buried in Woodland Cemetery without even a gravestone. The site became covered over with weeds and a growing forest eventually took over the area including much of the cemetery.
Williams was one of 220 men from Essex County killed in Vietnam and the Belleville Historical Society is on a mission to clean and restore all of their graves by April 30 of 2025, which will be the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War.
The society is an official “Defense Department Vietnam War Commemoration Partner” and in this work they identified and located the graves of four Newark soldiers who died in Vietnam and were buried in Woodland Cemetery on South 10th Street.
Sadly two of them were buried in unmarked graves so the society fabricated gravestones for them and a granite plaque with the names and photos of all four soldiers. The plaque was mounted on a granite boulder near where three of the soldiers are buried.
The monument was unveiled in November during a ceremony that included a contingent from American Legion Post 105 in Belleville. Members of the Post formed a color guard for the dedication ceremony while others solemnly watched.
In addition to Leroy Williams, Eason Maxey was also buried in an unmarked grave. He was 20 years old when he was killed on Nov. 1, 1968.
“Private Williams was buried in a rough spot,” said Michael Perrone, president of the Historical Society. “We had to go in with a machete and chainsaw. There were two of us and we both ended up bleeding but we found his grave site and were able to clear it. It’s sad. It’s like he is buried in the middle of a forest. He is buried in the middle of a forest.”
There was a brick marker on his grave site.
“Someone left a brick on the spot so that someone in the future could locate him, “Perrone said.
“He had a good share of medals,” Perrone said. “It was difficult to go and see the condition.”
Two Marines – Leon Earl Bell and Vincent Cole – are also buried in the cemetery. Both had markers that just needed to be restored. Bell was just 21 when he was killed during a weeklong battle that claimed the lives of 90 Marines.
Cole was just 17 when he arrived in Vietnam in February of 1968. He was one of 25 Marines killed in a battle in Phu Dong in May of that year.
“When I first saw Vincent Cole’s picture, he’s so young, he looks like a kid dressed up like a Marine.”
Bell attended East Side High School and was killed in action on July 2, 1967. He had been assigned to B Company, 1st Battalion, 9th Marines, 3d Marine Division, and was a corporal at the time of his death. Bell’s casualty report does not provide his arrival date in Vietnam, but he was almost certainly present during the famed siege of Khe Sanh. He was killed during fighting at Con Thien.
Coles was killed in action on May 16, 1968. He was assigned to I Company, 3rd Battalion, 27th Marines. Coles’s unit was engaged in Operation Allen Brook when he was killed.
Maxey, who was drafted into the Army, was assigned to B Company, 3rd Battalion, 21st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade, 23d Infantry Division.
Williams, who was also drafted, died in 1965 in what was labeled an accidental drowning. He had been assigned to 124th Transportation Company
The society hopes to have all of the Vietnam War graves cleaned by the anniversary. They started with Woodland Cemetery because it is in the worst shape.
“It’s not in a great state,” Perrone said. “Its 35 acres and 25 of those are forest.”
There are about 700 veterans buried in the cemetery including about 500 from the Civil War, one from the War of 1812 and about 200 from the two world wars.
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