In Remembrance...

25 July 2006

Command Sergeant Major Billy J. Barber
East Bank, West Virginia 25067

Dear Bill,

As you cross yet another milestone along that road called "LIFE," my memory goes back to some forty years ago. I do not recall specifically when you arrived in A Troop, 3rd Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry, because it just seems that you were always there. From your assignment/arrival, life for you was a race against time to fill the platoon, assign the real people to the structured jobs, and to incessantly train in preparation for deployment.

Long before there was any reason to expect that we would experience such heartache, your platoon and the troop were plunged into the depths of despair. Our losses were of a magnitude seldom experienced by units even in the fiercest combat. This devastating experience would have rendered most units combat ineffective, causing them to have to start over from scratch. Like the legendary phoenix, your platoon rose from the ashes and, after reconstituting and retraining, deployed on schedule with the rest of the squadron, and hit the ground running upon our arrival in Vietnam. It was to a very large degree due to your leadership, counseling, and constant encouragement that this was possible.

You took very young men to Vietnam and you brought home seasoned veterans. Wise beyond your years, you were a father figure to them. Whether obtained from many years of hard-earned experience or pure intuitive knowledge is irrelevant; the results were the same. Your platoon served with valor and distinction, and you still brought most of them home. Not the least of your leadership by example was the opportunity you had, mid-tour, when you reached ETS to return home but chose, unhesitatingly, to reenlist in theater and remain with your troops, returning to the States with them.

That would be the end of the story for most platoons, but, in this case, it is not. Many of the men were discharged and went their separate ways - only to start coming back together some 30 years later.

In the meantime, after being reassigned from the troop, your continued rise in the ranks to Command Sergeant Major reflects your continued contribution to the Army and our Nation.

Many of the troopers have now assembled several times to visit with each other and to reflect on their earlier years together. These recent assemblies, or reunions, were in large measure the product of your tireless and creative efforts to locate them, with all the skills of a Sherlock Holmes, and to get them to attend, with all the persuasion of a pit bull.

We are all better men for having served - and for having served with each other - and for the dedication, devotion, and leadership which you provided.

Most sincerely,

Nathan M. Pulliam
Colonel, US Army Retired
Silver Spur 6
December 1966 - March 1968