A tombstone belonging to an Army veteran, discovered at a mobile home park, was returned to the man’s son.
The gravestone was engraved with the name Johnnie Melvin Williams, and had a birth date of February 9, 1955 and a death date of November 25, 1977.
The only other identifying information was that he served in the Vietnam War for the U.S. Army.
The people who found it at a mobile home park in Shallowater, said they had no idea who Williams was or how long the stone was there.
“We found while we were cleaning up the park,” said tenant Jackie James. “We picked it up and cleaned it up and found that it belonged to an ex-vet.”
“It freaked me out,” said Juan Mariscal, who was hired to help clear out the park. “I was surprised. I said ‘wow what is this doing here? It’s so far away from a cemetery.'”
“This is a first kind of strange thing that happened,” said property manager Barbara Milikien.
A records search revealed a Johnnie Melvin Williams, buried at Muleshoe Memorial Cemetery in Bailey County, with the same birth and death date.
After the story first aired on KAMC News, Williams’ son, John Hart, a Lubbock resident, came forward.
“I guess it went missing a few years back,” Hart said, explaining that he held on to the headstone when a new one was placed at the cemetery as the place was cleaned up.
He explained his father died in an accidental shooting just two weeks before he was born.
“My mom thought she was going into labor with me and he was grabbing the luggage off of a shelf to pack for the hospital and a gun fell and went off,” Hart said.
Hart said Williams passed away a couple of days later while Hart’s mother was in the same hospital, preparing to give birth.
“I was born 2 weeks later on December 7,” said Hart.
The man who lives in the Shallowater home where the gravestone was found, said his son bought it at a house clear-out sale.
“It’s been sitting out here ever since, probably 8 months or so,” said Rickey Sebesta. “I didn’t know what was on it, I just know it’s been sitting out here and it was too heavy for me to pick up so i just left it alone.”
Hart confirmed Sebesta’s story could have happened.
“I used to live… with my ex wife, I guess they did a clean out of the house and somebody took it with them at that point,” he stated.
“(Williams) was a pretty funny guy, he liked playing his guitar, he loved working on electrical equipment, he owned a shop in Muleshoe for a little while,” Hart said about his late father.
Hart bought a brick at the Lubbock Veterans War Memorial “about 10 or 12 years ago.” Though he lives in Lubbock, he had never been by to see it, until Thursday.
“It’s nice to see it,” he said.
Hart wanted to thank the people who found the tombstone for trying to find the family it belonged to.
“I appreciate everybody that took the time to get this back to us. We absolutely appreciate it. We thank you very much,” he added, saying that the tombstone would likely be put next to the current one, at Williams’ burial site in Muleshoe.
“Real pleased that we could give back,” Milikien said. “He probably never met his dad but now he’s got a part of his dad back with him to share with the rest of his family.”
