To learn more about Operation Just Cause, or to adopt your own POW/MIA, visit the OJC website at http://www.ojc.org/ |
Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. All biographical and loss information on POWs provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates. |
EDWARD ARLO WILLING |
The YELL Chapter of Henry C. Conrad Middle School is honored to adopt Edward A. Willing and construct this page in his honor. Mr. Willing shares the same hometown as the CMS YELL Chapter and we hope by preparing this page and writing letters to our political officials, perhaps we can finally bring him home. Regardless, he is not forgotten. |
NAME: Edward Arlo Willing Rank/Branch: E3/US Marine Corps Unit: Company D, 2nd Battalion, 13th Marines Date of Birth: August 28th, 1949 Home City of Record: Wilmington, Delaware Date of Loss: July 21st, 1968 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 155700N 1081300E (BTO75659) Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Other Personnel in Incident: None Missing |
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Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. All biographical and loss information on POWs provided by Operation Just Cause have been supplied by Chuck and Mary Schantag of POWNET. Please check with POWNET regularly for updates. |
SYNOPSIS: On July 21st, 1968, Lcpl. Edward A. Willing leaft the Marine base near Da Nang to return to duty at his observation post at Tu Cau bridge on Highway 1 in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam. Soon after Willing left the gate, friends heard shots in the vicinity and a perimeter guard saw a man in black pajamas running toward a treeline with a rifle. A group of children were dragging something that possibly was a body. During the next several days searches were made of the area. Villagers were questioned and a reward was offered, but no information was ever obtained. Willing had been in Vietnam nine months, having first been assigned to an artillery company a a radio operator shortly after his arrival. He had been in the Marine Corps since November 1966. Since there existed the possibility that Willing might have been captured, he was listed as Missing in Action, and the Vietnamese could probably account for him. However, since the war ended, the Vietnamese have denied any knowledge of Edward A. Willing. Edward A. Willing was promoted to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant during the period he was maintained missing. [Note: USG data indicate that Willing was E3 (Lance Corporal), but it seems unlikely that this was the case, as his final rank at point of presumptive find of dead was E7 (Gunnery Sergeant). Although missing men received promotions during the period they were maintained missing, Willing would have received four rank increases, a very unusual situation, two or three being the norm. An article quoting his family in the late 1970s gives his rank at that time as Staff Sergeant (E6)]. |
[Note from creator of this page: The music you are listening to is "Bring Him Home" from the musical Les Miserables (music by Claude-Michel Schoenberg and lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil). Although the song was not written until 1986, the message would have been very fitting for 1973.] |
"God on high, hear my prayer. In my need, you have always been there. He is young, he's afraid. Let him rest heaven blessed. Bring him home ... bring him home ... bring him home. Bring him peace, bring him joy. He is young, he is only a boy. You can take, you can give. Let him be, let him live. Bring him home ... bring him home ... bring him home." |
To learn more about Operation Just Cause, or to adopt your own POW/MIA, visit the OJC website at http://www.ojc.org/ |
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