Randy Williams says life is about service. He spent five years in the United States Air Force as an avionics technician before joining the National Guard.
He also spent more than 20 years teaching at a local college in Greensboro, “I loved my time in the military and school,” said Williams.
While in the military Williams was sent all over the world in support of different operations or missions, “I went to Thailand, Germany, Italy, Turkey and the Philippines,” he says.
After leaving the Air Force, Williams has spent most of his time in Greensboro and hasn't ventured overseas in the past 40 years. That is--until his son asked him to come visit, “He has been asking me, almost begging me to come see him,” said Williams
His son Loche is now serving in the Air Force and stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Williams has not seen his son in three years, “I miss him,” said Williams.
The plan initially was for Williams to fly to Japan for Thanksgiving and spend the holiday with his son and his fiancée. What Williams didn’t anticipate was a problem getting his passport, “The problem is I had no birth certificate at my birth,” said Williams.
His birth certificate was not generated until he was 8-years-old and that was a big red flag the State Department told him and they denied his application. “I said how can this be, I’m a veteran who served his country.”
Told he would need other supporting documents to get a passport, Williams tried but was unable to get them in time for the Thanksgiving holiday, “The new plan was to visit him for Christmas,” said Williams.
Williams again reached out to the State Department and his local Congressman for assistance, but he was still unable to get a passport, “I was determined to go visit my son,” said Williams.
Not sure what else he could do Williams reached out to WFMY News 2 for help. 2 Wants To Know's Kevin Kennedy called Congressman Ted Budd’s Office and the State Department. An aide for Congressman Budd told us they would investigate the situation and a spokesperson with the State Department told us they were aware of the situation and already working to get it rectified.
Williams continued to talk with people at the National Passport Center and the State Department and send them additional documents in hopes they would issue a him a passport, “I was calling everyone and reaching out to anyone that would listen,” Williams said.
Unfortunately, that planned trip was once again looking like it would not happen, “I had many low times where I was ready to give up,” said Williams.
Scheduled to fly out on December 20, 2018 he had not heard anything from the State Department until this past Tuesday. To his surprise, the State Department informed him it was issuing a temporary passport and that it would be expressed to him the next day, “That was a yippee ki-ya moment,” said Williams.
His passport arrived Wednesday afternoon just in time for his Thursday morning flight to Japan, “I’m absolutely on cloud 9, this is the best Christmas gift ever,” said Williams.
The retired Sergeant boarded a plane for his trip to Japan early Thursday morning, but not before sending us a video clip before he boarded the plane, “I haven’t felt this excited about Christmas since I was a little kid, we should all get to relive that excitement. I want to thank WFMY News 2 for bringing attention to this problem,” said Williams.
Williams followed that video up with a selfie of him sitting in his seat on the airplane with a pretty big smile on his face.