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Remember...William Richard McPherson
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William Richard McPherson ("Bill") was born on January 3, 1940, in Parkersburg, Wood County, West Virginia, to his parents Bertha Vivian Myers McPherson and Richard Carl McPherson. Bill had one older sister, Roberta Catherine McPherson Dobson (1936-2018). During his childhood, Bill was a free-spirited individual as he loved getting into mischief. In a quote from his cousin, "The more mischief he could get into the better." He was very extroverted, which led him to be an avid marksman and outdoorsman. According to a childhood friend, Gary, "Bill was just a regular guy like the rest of us in trying to figure out our place in society and what we wanted to become in life." ("William Richard McPherson," Fold3, accessed 30 April 2021, https://www.fold3.com/page/93133675/william-richard-mcpherson.)
 Bill was the West Virginia University's Mountaineer Mascot 1960-1961. Courtesy VVMF |
Growing up, Bill was a member of the St. Andrews Methodist Church and graduated from Parkersburg High School with the class of 1957. After high school, he attended West Virginia University (WVU) where he earned his A.B. degree in sociology in 1961. While at WVU, he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity and the Scabbard and Blade, an honorary military society. During his senior year (1960-1961), Bill was the WVU Mountaineer, where he attended athletic events as the Mountaineer mascot. During his four years at WVU, Bill participated in the Army Reserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC), and after his graduation he was commissioned as a first lieutenant. In December of 1963, he married Peggy Parrish, and they had a daughter, Whitney Page McPherson, in January of 1965. |  William McPherson in ROTC at WVU. Courtesy VVMF |
Willard Collett's father also served in the Army. He passed away in West Virginia in 1944 and is buried in the Elkins Memorial Gardens. All of Willard Collett's brothers served during World War II. His brother Howard was awarded a Bronze Star and three Bronze Service Stars. All returned home.
Bill grew up in the 1950s during the "baby boom." As populations rose, so did the housing market as more and more people were looking for a places to live. Suburban neighborhoods that were built on the outskirts of cities seemed like the perfect family homes. They had family rooms and backyards with neighbors close by. Another big part of the 1950s was the civil rights movement as African Americans were fighting against segregation and racism. In 1961, the U.S. had sent 400 Special Forces soldiers to support the South Vietnamese against the Viet Cong, who were being supported by communist Russia. In 1964, after the attacks in the Gulf of Tonkin, Congress was inspired to pass the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution, which authorized the president to "take all necessary measures, including the use of armed force" against any aggressor in the conflict. By July 1965, President Johnson called for 50,000 more ground troops to be sent to Vietnam, increasing the draft to 35,000 soldiers each month.
 A family gathering with his wife, Peg, just before his deployment to Vietnam in 1965. Courtesy VVMF |
Bill was commissioned by the Army on October 15, 1961, as a first lieutenant. His Military Occupation Skill (MOS) was 1542 - Infantry Unit Commander. Bill went on to complete Airborne and Ranger Training in Florida, followed by being stationed at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma, where he studied communications. He then attended language school for a year at the Presidio at Monterey, California, where he learned Vietnamese. He was deployed to Vietnam on July 8, 1965, as part of the Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) Advisory Team #75, 3rd Battalion, 11th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division, as a unit commander with the rank of captain. |
Upon his arrival in Vietnam, he was assigned to the Mekong Delta, which was part of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) IV Corps' Area of Operations in South Vietnam. He was there for five months, when the military vehicle he was riding in struck a Viet Cong landmine, killing him at the age of 25. By this time Bill McPherson had attained the rank of captain. He headed an advisory team of a regiment of Vietnamese soldiers plus seven Americans. ("McPherson, William Richard, CPT," TogetherWeServed, accessed 30 April 2021, https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=ShadowBoxProfile&type=Person&ID=60214.)
One of Bill's cousins, Robert R. Richards, had this to say about Bill:
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 von Rohr, had been Bill's commanding officer in a previous assignment. COL von Rohr 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 Vietnamese 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. ("The Wall of Faces: William Richard McPherson [posting by Robert R. Richards]," Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund, accessed 30 April 2021, https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/37237/WILLIAM-R-MCPHERSON/page/2/.)
| Captain Bill Richard McPherson's remains were recovered and sent back to the U.S. He was buried at the Evergreen Cemetery in his hometown of Parkersburg, West Virginia, around December 15, 1965. His parents received a telegram from the U.S. Army stating, "The Secretary of Army has asked to me to express his deep regret that your son, Captain William R. McPherson, died in Vietnam on December 3, 1965, as a result of metal fragmentation wounds to the chest incurred while riding in a military vehicle which hit a hostile landmine. Please accept my deepest sympathy." The telegram was signed by the Adjutant General of the U.S. Army, Major General J.C. Lambert. ("Capt. McPherson Dies in War," Parkersburg News, 5 December 1965.) |  Military marker for Captain William R. McPherson in Evergreen Cemetery. Courtesy VVMF |
Captain Bill McPherson will always be remembered for his ultimate sacrifice to our country as his name is inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall in Washington, D.C., on Panel 03E, Line 122. He is also remembered on the walls of the West Virginia Veterans Memorial in Charleston, West Virginia. We will always be indebted to his commitment and sacrifice to our enduring freedoms. Capt. McPherson would have been eligible for the following awards: the Purple Heart, Combat Infantryman Badge, Marksmanship Badge, National Defense Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal, Vietnam Service Medal, Army Presidential Unit Citation, Vietnam Gallantry Cross and the Army Good Conduct Medal. ("CPT William Richard McPherson--Military Timeline," TogetherWeServed, accessed 30 April 2021, https://army.togetherweserved.com/army/servlet/tws.webapp.WebApp?cmd=SBVTimeLine&type=Person&ID=60214.)
MAJ (Ret) T. Brad McGee, George Washington High School JROTC
April 2021
West Virginia Archives and History welcomes any additional information that can be provided about these veterans, including photographs, family names, letters and other relevant personal history.
