William Forssell Ericson

West Point, 1968

Be Thou At Peace

Posted by Mike Trollinger on July 27, 2007:

Bill Ericson was my classmate at West Point in the Class of 1968. Bill was older than a lot of rest of us in the class because he had prior service in the Army before joining the Long Gray Line. Because he was more mature and had prior service, he was much more "strac" than a lot of us in the class and had better military bearing than the vast majority of us rabble. He was extremely "gung ho" and even went to Airborne school during his leave time one summer. Bill was also an accomplished boxer. I can remember him boxing in the Corps boxing tournaments just like it was yesterday. He was a tough guy that took as much punishment as he dished out; however, he could take it better than most and won a lot of his bouts. He was never intimidated by anyone bigger than he was--basically he was fearless. As we got to be firstclassmen at the Academy, he ranked high enough in the class (both academically and militarily) to be selected at the Regimental Commander of the 4th Regiment. This was quite an accomplishment for him, although (bless his heart) he had a lot of work to do to "whip" us into shape. The 4th Regiment in the late 1960's was housed in North Area and was known for being the least military of any of the four regiments in the Corps of Cadets. We prided ourselves on our seeming lack of military decorum and for being borderline with our haircuts and personal appearance. Bill did not like this quality in us and tried his hardest to get us to shape up. He even adopted a motto that he got approved by the Tactical Department--"Strict, Tough, Military, and Proud." He did this to try to get us to have some pride in our appearance and behavior. Of course, in our own way, a lot of us changed the motto (amongst ourselves, of course) to "Stiff, Drunk, Milling in the Crowd." We all graduated, nonetheless, and became members of the Long Gray Line. After graduation, Bill married, branched into the Infantry (of course), and went off to his service schools. He volunteered to go to Vietnam as soon as he could, but the Department of the Army made us all serve at least six months in a stateside unit before allowing us to serve in a combat zone. Bill served his mandatory six months, but left immediately after that period to experience war. I never saw Bill again after graduation, but I heard about his death from other classmates. From what I understand, his unit was in a basecamp that was overrun by the enemy, and he died while repulsing the enemy. There is no doubt in my mind that Bill would have been a General Officer some day. He was totally devoted to the Army and had an internal drive that was unmatched in any of us. Like the rest of the Class of 1968 from West Point that did not make it through the war, Bill had a lot to contribute to the world, and he would have made a sizable contribution. Even in the short time that we were together at West Point and his short career in the Army, Bill did it the right and honorable way. Well, done, Bill, be thou at peace.

admin