THE WALL OF FACES

Actually Bill was just a good ole boy, and in fact was a very new Second Lieutenant, a battlefield commission is what Bill told me.

As I recall, and recollections become dim with the passage of time, Bill was just new to Pleiku and while we were sitting at the bar, I mentioned that since he was going to take my place, why not get a look around the Province with our attached observation guys. It was an Army observation group, called "The Headhunters", which flew bird dog aircraft.

Well, Bill left and never came back. No one at that time knew exactly where they had gone down, since the last contact, with them was a half hour or more old. I never knew they found him.

Bill was a humble kind of guy, and it shocked me when he told me that he was some kind of "Battle Field" promotion. Most of us were just looking to get in and out of the insane war in one piece. I was always, as a crummy First Lieutenant surprised, when someone called me, "Sir", as Bill did when we first met.

Bill liked to have fun, and we shared some drinks and laughs together in the short time I knew him. I can remember his heavy southern or "hill billy" accent to this day, even though I had forgotten his name, until I scanned this service for deaths of Lieutenants in 71.

Bill was a 1st Lt when he extended his tour in order to get some command time and make rank to Captain. He joined Advisory Team 36, MACV and was on a Covey FAC mission when his plane disappeared. We knew the grid square that he and the Air Force pilot were searching and conducted an extensive search with no success. We overflew the area for some time. He was only with us a short time, too short.