Ben Cronan, Jessica Valcarcel, Wade Jambretz
U.S. History
K. LeDuc
3-30-11
A Soldier’s Story
In the year of 1940, William Ponder was born in Liberty, Missouri. Liberty Missouri
which is located 20 miles north of the ever so popular Kansas City, Missouri. While growing up,
Ponder got to meet many of his town’s war heroes. He was greatly influenced by them, because
they were such good individuals. As William was going through high school he couldn’t decide
on what to do after high school. He graduated high school in May of 1958.He had no plans on
what to do for a future, but then he was reminded of the war heroes, during his young age, and
how they were highly respected, and he wanted to be like them.
William and a few of his buddies went down to the local Air Force recruiting office, in
hope of getting, selected to join. However it did not turn out great for William and his friends.
Only one of his friends was selected to join the military. This left William in a state of
frustration. Not only did he not go to college after high school, but his plan of joining the
military went through the roof, or did it? A few days later, William met with a Marine recruiter.
The recruiter went on to tell William how the Marines had so much to offer him, such as getting
into great physical shape, gaining self-discipline, a good retirement, (if he chose to stay for at
least 20 years) and the feeling of doing something good, for him and his country. William ended
up joining the Marines on September 28, 1958. “It was the best decision of my life”.
As months went by, William was preparing to go to boot camp. He flew out of Kansas
City, Missouri and landed in San Diego, California, where he will start his training. William
quoted, “The first day of boot camp was the longest day of my life”. As soon as he landed with
his group, the first thing that they did, was get military haircuts or “buzz cut”. The first 24 hours,
“felt like chaos, felt like it never stopped,” said William. Boot camp was a preparation for going
to war, and getting trained to be a Marine. William had to undergo many inspections during boot
camp and was ordered to run nearly everywhere he went in order to build character and remain
in good physical condition. For William and the rest of the Marine recruits, boot camp also
consisted of a 3 month test. At the end of the 3 months the Marines would graduate, and become
full fledged Marines, but not everyone would have the physical endurance to pass. William
pulled through however, and completed boot camp and officially became a Marine. Marine boot
camp is more challenging, physically, and mentally than any other type of military boot camp. It
is a great accomplishment to graduate marine boot camp, and William was strong enough to do
so.
After graduating boot camp, William lived on base, until the day he got the orders to go
serve oversees. This was in 1965. The orders were to go serve his country, and fight the war in
Da Nang, Vietnam. He was part of the Fox CO 2nd BN 7th division. William fought for the South
Vietnamese. The South was a democracy, and the North was Communist. Before America and
France joined the war, it was only a civil war, between the North and South Vietnam. However,
America and France joined the war to stop the spread of communism. Some of the missions that
William took part of, were “Search and Destroy:” missions. A “Search and Destroy” mission
consisted of deploying American troops into hostile territory, and destroying the villages, and
leaving as soon as they were finished. This was a very successful offensive strategy. While he
was in Vietnam, William fought often because of the “Search and Destroy” missions and
unfortunately happened to be with some of his friends when they died. Two of them were
Vernon Ramey and Henry Marshall. According to William, “War seems like a big deal to
everyone but when your in the middle of it, its not that big of a deal, its just something you have
to do.
William left Vietnam after a short period of time. And when he arrived back to San
Diego, he was promoted to staff sergeant, and he son Dwain was born in the same year as his
promotion. After he was promoted he went to schooling for three months so he could learn how
to be a recruiter, and a drill instructor. A responsibility of a drill instructor was to keep the
Marines inline as they trained during boot camp. His favorite thing to do was drill, and the only
time that they got to leave San Diego, was to go to the rifle range. But after a few years of being
a drill instructor, William finally decided to retire. He retired in the year of 1968. After taking a
break from working, William decided to go to work at the Beverley Hilton hotel, as a hotel
security guard. He was later promoted to Director of Security. One of his jobs being the director
was to escort famous people, such as celebrities and presidents. He had the honor to escort
President Ford, President. Clinton, President Bush, and President Reagan. William said that was
a very exciting job, but he was glad he finally retired in 1995.
William Ponder is a great American hero, and has saved many American lives. He has
served in the Vietnam War, and has trained many Marines, to help support our country. He has
received many honorable medals, including, a combat action ribbon, Republic Vietnam
Campaign medal, National Defense Service medal, and many, many more. Now, William resides
in beautiful Southern California. “I have to pensions,” states William. He has also picked up the
game of golf. He is an honorable and respectful war hero.