HONORED ON PANEL 3E, LINE 122 OF THE WALL
WILLIAM RICHAR MCPHERSON
WALL NAME
WILLIAM R MCPHERSON
PANEL / LINE
3E/122
DATE OF BIRTH
CASUALTY PROVINCE
DATE OF CASUALTY
HOME OF RECORD
COUNTY OF RECORD
STATE
BRANCH OF SERVICE
RANK
REMEMBRANCES
LEFT FOR WILLIAM RICHAR MCPHERSON
POSTED ON 5.29.2000
POSTED BY: Robert R. Richards
Bill McPherson - A Great Future, Unrealized
Bill was my cousin. We lived about 100 miles apart, he in Parkersburg, WV, and me near Columbus, OH, while we were growing up. In the fifties, that was far enough apart that we only saw one another once a year or so. Bill was a few years older than me, so he was one of the "big kids" in my eyes. But, boy, were there more differences than just a few years and his attendant "maturity"! While I was fairly insecure and had a strong desire to please others, Bill was a free spirit. He didn't seem to have any inhibitions; in fact it seemed like the more mischief he could get into, the better. Where I was introverted and concerned about "following the rules," Bill was an extrovert and creative to the point of considering rules to just be opportunities to make an exception. At least that's the way I saw him as a kid. Bill also had "skills and knowledge" of things to which I had either no or very little exposure - hunting, using a firearm, archery, and outdoorsmanship in general. So I always viewed our visits with Bill's family with both excitement and trepidation - I knew that Bill and I would have some great "adventures," but that there was also a high likelihood that we would end up in trouble (which Bill often defused with his charm and likability - except when his parents were involved). I really admired Bill's open-to-anything, mischievous, extroverted personality. In a real sense, he was a role-model for me, long before that became a common term.
By the time Bill went to college, I had generally stopped traveling with my parents to visit our relatives, so there was a long period when I was not in touch with Bill. What a surprise it was to learn, when he graduated, that he had gone through ROTC, been commissioned, and intended to make the Army a career! A creative, extroverted, rule-breaker like Bill in the military?! It seemed like a recipe for disaster.
By that time, I was in college, and also in ROTC. My second surprise about Bill was learning that the Professor of Military Science (ROTC commanding officer) at my school, COL Arthur vonRohr, had been Bill's commanding officer in a previous assignment. COL vonRohr had nothing but the best to say about Bill (perhaps he, too, was affected by Bill's innate charm). In any case, it seemed that Bill had developed into a creative, extroverted leader! Someone the Army could definitely benefit from!
I was able to visit once with Bill before he went to Vietnam. He was now a college graduate, Infantry captain, married-man, and a father. I could see that all that mischievous energy that I remembered from his early teen years was now directed to fulfilling, in the best way possible, his new roles as father, husband, and officer. And even I, as a not-too-savvy ROTC cadet, could see that as an Infantry officer with Airborne qualification, a pretty, charming wife, and a totally winning personality, Bill was set up for a great future as an Army officer. Shoot, I thought I would rise to significant rank, so I was sure that Bill would.
After Bill arrived in Vietnam, I received a letter from him. He had been assigned as an advisor to a local Vietnamese unit in IV Corps, out from Can Tho, I believe. His letter was full of tips that he wanted me to know, since I was also on a track to eventually arrive "in country". It was also full of concern for the people in the nearby villages, who at the time, were subject to VC terrorism from which neither the local units, ARVN, and South Vietmanese government were successful in protecting them.
Not long after, we received the news that Bill had died. (In typing that sentence I did not attach an adjective to "the news" - awful, upsetting, horrible, devastating - none of these words really conveys the punched-in-the-gut feeling.) Bill had died as a result of the jeep in which he was riding detonating a mine or booby-trap.
Besides the loss felt by Bill's immediate and extended family, which is, of course the greatest loss, I am convinced that the Army and the nation also suffered a tremendous loss on that day in December, 1965. Bill McPherson had so much to offer, and such an engaging way about him, that I am sure Bill would have had a great future. I miss him a lot.
By the time Bill went to college, I had generally stopped traveling with my parents to visit our relatives, so there was a long period when I was not in touch with Bill. What a surprise it was to learn, when he graduated, that he had gone through ROTC, been commissioned, and intended to make the Army a career! A creative, extroverted, rule-breaker like Bill in the military?! It seemed like a recipe for disaster.
By that time, I was in college, and also in ROTC. My second surprise about Bill was learning that the Professor of Military Science (ROTC commanding officer) at my school, COL Arthur vonRohr, had been Bill's commanding officer in a previous assignment. COL vonRohr had nothing but the best to say about Bill (perhaps he, too, was affected by Bill's innate charm). In any case, it seemed that Bill had developed into a creative, extroverted leader! Someone the Army could definitely benefit from!
I was able to visit once with Bill before he went to Vietnam. He was now a college graduate, Infantry captain, married-man, and a father. I could see that all that mischievous energy that I remembered from his early teen years was now directed to fulfilling, in the best way possible, his new roles as father, husband, and officer. And even I, as a not-too-savvy ROTC cadet, could see that as an Infantry officer with Airborne qualification, a pretty, charming wife, and a totally winning personality, Bill was set up for a great future as an Army officer. Shoot, I thought I would rise to significant rank, so I was sure that Bill would.
After Bill arrived in Vietnam, I received a letter from him. He had been assigned as an advisor to a local Vietnamese unit in IV Corps, out from Can Tho, I believe. His letter was full of tips that he wanted me to know, since I was also on a track to eventually arrive "in country". It was also full of concern for the people in the nearby villages, who at the time, were subject to VC terrorism from which neither the local units, ARVN, and South Vietmanese government were successful in protecting them.
Not long after, we received the news that Bill had died. (In typing that sentence I did not attach an adjective to "the news" - awful, upsetting, horrible, devastating - none of these words really conveys the punched-in-the-gut feeling.) Bill had died as a result of the jeep in which he was riding detonating a mine or booby-trap.
Besides the loss felt by Bill's immediate and extended family, which is, of course the greatest loss, I am convinced that the Army and the nation also suffered a tremendous loss on that day in December, 1965. Bill McPherson had so much to offer, and such an engaging way about him, that I am sure Bill would have had a great future. I miss him a lot.
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