Wigan Album

No apologies for publishing this as this man's family originated from Wigan His dad was born in the Lock House at Crooke. I am very good friends and in regular contact with his brother, who lives in Virginia. He too fought in Korea and Vietnam. This is an e.mail he sent to me last week.
I wrote (by hand) a letter to one of his buddies that was with him when he was killed. That was some years ago with no reply . I called him on the phone and still no reply.. Last Saturday the phone rang and for some reason or another I picked it up, which I never do . I usually wait for the answering system to see who it is. Lord in Heaven it was Paul Dupree , Bill's buddie whom I written years ago. He just couldn't get him self to call or write. WE must have talked for two or more hours and both of us were crying. We've talked several times since then. He has PTS (Post Traumatic Syndrome). He's still in bad shape. He was hit nine times and he talked a lot about Bill . He said he had more holes in him than a sponge and was still shooting. Six of them were killed out of the ones that were ambushed. They all volunteered for the mission.
It bothers me sometimes like I get talking to some one like Paul Dupree who was with Bill when he got killed. 13 Sept 1967. They were ambushed real hard. Bill was one of the last to go down according to Paul He was just abut full of holes.
His name is honoured on Panel 26E Row 64 on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C.
Bill was killed in Thua Thien, South Vietnam he was a corporal in the E4 Marine Corps. Before he got drafted he was studying to be a priest.