COLES COUNTY, Ill. (WCIA) — As the nation mourns the deadliest U.S. air crash since 2009, a Coles County town remembers another deadly aviation incident — and a local hero.

Wednesday night, an American Airlines plane hit a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., killing 67 people.

“We watched it for several hours last night, and I’m sure anybody in Mattoon who had the TV on stayed glued to it because it really hit home for people in Mattoon,” said Chris Suerdick, curator at the Mattoon History Center.

This tragedy is reminding the Coles County community of the sacrifice of Arland Williams Jr.
Williams was the hero at the center of another Reagan Airport tragedy that happened almost exactly 43 years ago.

“Even though this is a very tragic event, it’s going to kind of help maybe to re-instill some people’s thoughts and memories of, you know, that we did have quite a hero,” Suerdick said.

Arland Williams Jr. was a Mattoon native and a passenger on a flight out of Reagan Airport in 1982. His flight never reached its destination and crashed into the Potomac River on takeoff.
Of the 79 occupants on board, only five survived. Of those five, four owed their lives to Williams.

“He saved several people by handing the rescue ropes to them,” Suerdick said. “And he was the last one to be rescued. By the time they could get back to him, he was holding onto the tail of the airplane, and it went under the river—he was lost.”

Suerdick said Wednesday’s tragedy brings back memories of Williams’ sacrifice.

“We did have quite a hero that, you know, came right out of Mattoon, Illinois. So it’s a good way to kind of bring that back to the forefront, remember it, and honor it,” Suerdick added.

It also brought back memories for 90-year-old Peggy Fuesting.

“All of us from Mattoon — it’s come back, the whole thing, and the fact that I was his friend and stuff. Long time ago, but this has brought it to mind again. All of us who knew him,” Fuesting said.

She graduated with Williams from Mattoon High School in 1953. The two were a couple in high school and again just prior to his death.

“I think when somebody is brave like that, they should be remembered,” Fuesting said.

She was even with him in D.C. the weekend before the crash in 1982.

“I’m just happy that we had such a nice weekend. I think he died thinking he could do what he was doing and that he would be okay, but he wasn’t… and he drowned,” Fuesting said.

As recent tragedy reminds many of the past, it now serves as a reminder of how goodness can endure.

“It just really reinforces the fact that heroes walk among us, and we never know who they are until they’re called upon to do something extraordinary,” Suerdick said.

The “Hero of the Potomac” continues to live on in Central Illinois and nationwide.
In 2003, Williams Elementary School in Mattoon was named after him. The bridge over the Potomac is also named the Arland Williams Jr. Memorial Bridge.