I make no apologies for posting this as it is Wigan related. William Albert Aspinall was K.I.A. 50 years ago today. 9-13-67. Bill is the brother of a good friend of mine, Don Aspinall, who lives in Virginia, who himself fought in Korea and Vietnam. Their father was born and lived in Wigan. He was born in the Lock House on the L.L. canal at Standish Lower Ground. The lock and house have long gone but you can still see the remains of the lock and you can make out part of the floor of the house, which is hidden under a small bush at the side of the lock. He himself had a very distinguished army career and was based in England during the war and visited relatives in Wigan regularly.
Bill is centre back row. The Marine front right is Paul Dupree (on the photograph in ALBUM) he was one of only two survivors when this group of Marines got ambushed whilst out on patrol in Thua Thien Province, South Vietnam.9-13-67. Don told me that Paul would often phone him, he was suffering from P.T.S.D. and couldn’t live with the fact that all his friends died and he lived. As today is the 50th anniversary of Bill’s death I promised Don, who is very proud of his Wigan ancestry that I would make sure that Bill’s Wigan roots wouldn’t be forgotten. Bill was studying to be a priest when he got drafted. He is buried in Plattsburgh N.Y.
See my post on ALBUM from 3 years ago on ‘ASPINALL FAMILY in U.S.A.’ and the link below with more information about Bill.
Bill
R.I.P Bill. I’ll be thinking of you today. SEMPER FI.
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