THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. The remembrance from your college friend Jim is especially poignant. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...

From our college days. I remember you well from Buffalo State and when you went into the military. You lived a very difficult life up to that time. Several years ago my daughter and I were in Washington. We stopped at the Vietnam Wall. I touched your name on the wall. I began to cry, my daughter asked me why I was crying. I told her it was because of you and all these men on this wall that gave me the freedom to have her. Thank you buddy and you’ll always be remembered . God bless you !

LCPL William J. Becker was a mortarman serving with 1st Combined Action Group, Combined Action, III Marine Amphibious Force (III MAF). While serving in a line company in Vietnam, LCPL was stricken with illness. He was evacuated to a U.S. military hospital in Japan where he died January 9, 1970, as a result of appendicitis. [Taken from coffeltdatabase.org and “Angola Marine’s Death Caused by Appendicitis.” Publication and date unknown]

DEAR LANCE CORPORAL BECKER,
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE AS A MORTARMAN. SEMPER FI. THE CHRISTMAS SEASON IS OVER, AND IT IS A NEW YEAR, WHICH MAKES IT FAR TOO LONG FOR YOU TO HAVE BEEN GONE. WE APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE DONE, AND YOUR SACRIFICE. WATCH OVER THE U.S.A., IT STILL NEEDS YOUR COURAGE.. GOD BLESS YOU. MAY THE SAINTS AND ANGELS BE AT YOUR SIDE. REST IN PEACE.

Bill was a fabulous artist. He always wanted to study art in Japan. The irony of it all was that he died in a hospital in Japan from non combat injuries. He was a peacemaker at heart and it was so fun being his friend. I am so glad that I met him.