A Summit Hill man who enlisted in the U.S. Army before he graduated from high school, and who served 11½ months fighting in Vietnam, has been named the grand marshal of the 2026 Summit Hill Memorial Day Parade.

Joseph “Mucker” Williams, 77, will lead Carbon County’s largest tribute to fallen servicemen and women on Monday, May 25. He will ring the old Summit Hill High School bell in Ludlow Park following the 10 a.m. memorial services.

“He’s a legend in town,” said parade committee chairman Thomas Vermillion, noting Williams, a true war hero and popular Summit Hill resident, “was the unanimous choice of our committee to be the grand marshal.”

Vermillion added, “I grew up with his family. He was always so fun to be around, welcoming to the entire neighborhood full of kids, whether at his house or adjacent property at the west end of town. He is a dedicated and proud veteran. I think everyone in my generation growing up in Summit Hill knows Mucker and how proud he is to have served. No doubt, he deserves this honor. “

Williams said the honor “was a shock.” While he graciously accepted the honor despite failing health and recent injuries, he “almost said no” to the committee.

“Actually, I was sad,” the Army veteran said. “It (his military experience) reminded me how I lost all but one of my comrades, about 10, in the war.”

Like father, like sons

Williams is one of five siblings who followed the footsteps of their late father, Earl Williams, and his late wife, Stella (Lasky) Williams. His father was a U.S. Army veteran who died at 52 from black lung (silicosis). Two of Mucker’s late brothers, Daniel and Johnny, served in the Army, while brothers Earl and Larry were Air Force veterans, the latter having served two tours in Vietnam.

“Our dad taught us everything, including work ethic, and especially about a call to duty in the military,” Mucker said.

The latter lesson, he said, prompted his early enlistment in the Army before he received his diploma from Panther Valley High School. “I wanted to go; I wanted to fight for our country,” Williams said.

But before he did, Mucker was a highly popular resident and competitor, where he became regarded as a top performer in gymnastics, track and field, tournament archery, being a runner-up one year in the Pennsylvania State Archery Tournament, diving (Lansford and Lehighton pools) and even the noted greasy pole climbing competition of years gone by when he and his teammates reigned as champions year after year.

“I love this town; was born here and never left, except for the military (commitment),” he said.

Following the 1968 commencement, he underwent basic training at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, and then advance infantry training at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where soldiers were built for readiness, mobilization and deploy.

He served a temporary assignment at Camp Pickett, Virginia, where he was being trained to be a mechanic instructor, and, upon a brief leave at home, decided he wanted to go to Vietnam.

Wounded twice

Like a lot of soldiers who are reluctant to speak on their experiences, Mucker served a horrific near-year in An Loc, Vietnam, where he was wounded by friendly fire twice. He was shot in the stomach and the bullet sailed through his hip.

He was also the victim of a grenade “blow-up,” which, he said, “resulted in me having shrapnel all over my body.”

That was in December 1970, when he and his infantry counterparts would be faced with 10-12 hours of day and night fighting. Mucker recalled, “I was 19, bullets were flying over our heads all day long. Some days we were faced some days with 125 degree weather and other days, after monsoons, the temperatures dropped so low we were freezing. It was a brutal experience.”

He has frequent flashbacks of the losses of lives in the war, saying, “We lost everyone, except one of our guys, Ron Capacio.” The latter, who was shot in the spine in the war, lives in Wisconsin. He and Williams recently connected, thanks to the internet, and occasionally talk with each other.

Fighting tears back over the loss of his “buddies,” Mucker simply said, “I tried to do the best that I could.”

Decorated soldier

A member of American Legion Post 316, Summit Hill, Williams is a highly decorated soldier, having been the recipient of four Bronze Stars, three Army Commendation Medals and three Vietnam Citation Medals.

Following his honorable discharge, Mucker returned home and worked for the Kovatch, Tonolli and Ametek corporations before spending 10 years as a Summit Hill Borough maintenance employee before retiring in 2011.

He is the husband of the late Andrea (Kosciolek) Williams, who died in 1994. They are the parents of four children: Kim, wife of Alan Guth of Packer Township; Brian, and his wife, Katie (Theony) of Clarks Summit, Joanne of Eugene, Oregon, and Samantha Williams of Coaldale. Mucker is the grandfather of Joey and Andrea Monkiewicz, Natalie, McKenna and Jocelyn Williams, and Nova McNichols.

Besides his deceased siblings (Earl, Larry, Daniel and Johnny), he has three sisters, Mary, wife of Jim Oncheck, and Elizabeth Uhnak, both of Walnutport, and Cathy, wife of Jim Chapman in New York, and a brother Steve, and his wife, Nancy, of Allentown.

Mucker said, “I want to thank all of the guys (Legionnaires) who thought enough about me to pick me as the grand marshal. It’s an honor to be asked.”