WILLIAM WALTER WATERS, JR.

LCPL - E3 - Marine Corps - Regular
18 year old Single, Caucasian, Male
Born on Nov 16, 1949
From NORFOLK, VIRGINIA
Length of service 1 year.
His tour of duty began on Jan 25, 1968
Casualty was on Aug 28, 1968
in THUA THIEN, SOUTH VIETNAM
HOSTILE, GROUND CASUALTY
GUN, SMALL ARMS FIRE
Body was recovered
Religion
PROTESTANT

Panel 46W - - Line 54


IN MEMORIAM

Lance Corporal William Walter Waters, Jr.
United States Marine Corps

16 November 1949
Barwick, Georgia

28 August 1968
Thau Thien Province, Republic of South Vietnam

Son of
William Walter Waters, Sr.
and
Virginia Stanhope Shippey Waters

MEDALS AND AWARDS

National Defense Medal
Vietnam Service Medal with Star
Vietnamese Campaign Medal
Order of the Purple Heart

FUNERAL SERVICES

2:00 p.m.
29 September 1968
Smith-Williams Funeral Home

Captain H. C. Albrecht, CHC, USN
Lieutenant R. F. Wood, CHC, USNR

Organist: Clinton Cheshire
Vocalist: Miss Jackie Seay

Burial: Hampton National Cemetery, Virginia

"TOO SOON"

SOMETIMES GOD CALLS THOSE SERVANTS HOME
WHOSE YEARS ARE IN THEIR PRIME,
BUT HE HAS BETTER MEASURES
THAN THE PENDULUM OF TIME.
SOME WORKERS QUICKLY DO THEIR TASK
OF SERVICE AND OF LOVE,
SO THIR PROMOTION EARLY COMES
TO HIGHER WORK ABOVE.

GOD LOVES THEM AND HE SPARES THEM MUCH;
NOT THEIRS TO WAIT ALONE,
AND FEEL THE ACHE OF USELESS YEARS
WITH STRENGTH AND VIGOR GONE.
THEY ARE NOT STRANDED DERELICTS
WHILE TIDES GO RUSHING BY,
THEY DO THEIR PART AND WIN THEIR REST
AND THEN THEY QUICKLY DIE.

NOT THEIRS TO LIFT THEIR FADING EYES
TO FIND NO COMRAD LEFT;
NOT THEIRS TO DWELL AMONG THE GRAVES
FORSAKEN AND BEREFT.
THEY PASS FROM WORK TO BETTER WORK
AND REST BEFORE THE NOON,
AH! GOD IS VERY GOOD TO THEM,
THEY DO NOT DIE TOO SOON.

- - Marion Framington


 

Skip, as his mother called him, began to show dedication to his schooling and all else he was involved with years before deciding to become a Marine.  He joined the Boy Scouts of America and soon it became apparent that he would excel in this endeavor also.  He became a mentor for those scouts younger than he, assisted the adult leaders, worked diligently on his Merit Badges and advanced in scouting rank.  On January 24, 1965, BSA Troop 13, sponsored by the Lafayette Presbyterian Church of Norfolk, Virginia, bestowed upon him the rank of Eagle Scout.  Only one percent of those who join the scouting program ever become an Eagle Scout.  Today the Marine Corps, recognizing the value of individuals who become Eagle Scouts, promote Marines to Private First Class upon completing boot camp.  Further, Colonel Dabney recalls that enlisted Marines who were applying for NROTC scholarships were given additional points toward the selection process if they had been awarded Eagle Scout status.

The scouting community of the Norfolk area also recognized the loss of Skip by dedicating an outdoor chapel to him within the Pipsco, Virginia BSA Reservation.  This reservation is comprised of several individual camps, one being Camp Lions.  The image below is the all-faith chapel of Camp Lions.  The minister would stand behind the rock podium and address as many as 100 scouts who would be seated on benches to his front.
 
 

The plaque on the face of the podium.

A Mother's Lament to the Editor of Ledger-Star
( Two articles by Virginia Waters)



LCpl. Waters' name is currently aboard the Stardust spacecraft, launched Feb. 7, 1999, which visited Comet Wild-2 (pronounced Vildt-2) in 2004.  Stardust spacecraft is now returning to planet earth for recovery on 15 January 2006.  You may read more on this project here.

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Sgt. Joseph M. "Sgt. Rock" Jones' recollections of William W. Waters, III are fond mixed with a deep sense of loss when he was KIA in an ambush near Lang Co.  In that same incident LCpl. Philip Provenzano was WIA.

Muddy used to rail about the fact that, at 18, he was too young to vote or buy beer back home but he could go to Viet Nam.  At least he got to drink beer there.  SSgt. Taylor and I used to kid him about his wrist watch.  I don't recall the brand but the model was "Sea Wolf" and it was a "diver's" watch.  He was proud of it and when showing it off to Karl and myself he misspoke the model, calling it a "Werewolf".  Of course after that we were always asking him what time his werewolf said it was.

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