“I grew up in Davenport, Iowa, which is on the Mississippi River. My dad was a welder. He welded tanks in the Second World War. John Deere tractors came from Moline, across the river.

I was born in 1934. I had three uncles in World War II. Two were in Germany; they knew German because my stepmother and father were German immigrants who settled here.

The Wacker family has always been soldiers. My oldest brother was in Korea. I entered the Army and went to Korea after the armistice. Then Vietnam in ’66 and ’67. I started in a port in Washington and was assigned to a transportation battalion. There was a captain, the quartermaster, and myself getting our equipment in. I was also the first cook and made sure we got everything we needed for the mess, the dining. We loaded field stoves, hot water heaters, and a bunch of other stuff and shipped it from Seattle to Vietnam. 

We landed in Cam Ranh Bay, and I took over as mess sergeant. 

The mess halls were nothing but tents with a dining area. I fed 1,000 to 1,500 people three meals a day. They gave us a 30-day menu of what to cook—breakfast, lunch, and dinner. We had refrigeration run by generators. The refrigerators and freezers were huge to hold milk and frozen meat.

Boats came in with supplies, and we loaded them onto convoys of trucks. Some of the guys would say, ‘Whatcha got on there? Have you got a record machine?’ ‘We do.’ ‘How much for it?’ ‘Oh darn, it just fell off.’ ‘Pick it up and take it.’

We took the convoys about 40 miles. The roads were full of potholes. Bomb holes. Over there, 40 miles took three or four hours, and there was usually gunfire. 

I was one of the lucky ones in Vietnam. I didn’t expect to come back home because I didn’t know what was going on. But I lucked out and got in with a transportation company. I had buddies over there who were killed. Matter of fact, my cousin was killed. He was a Texan. His name is on the Vietnam Wall.

I got to Yazoo City because I married a lady from Bentonia. I met Catherine at Fort Hood in 1960. She was working in the laundromat. Her first husband died over there. She and I started talking. She knew I was a Yankee, but it didn’t matter.

We married in 1960 and were married for 34 years. Catherine died in a house fire. She had 75 percent burns and went to the burn center. I asked the doctor how long she would live. The doctor said, “If she lasts five days, she’s going to make it.”  She lasted three. I was there when she died. That’s the hardest thing I’ve been through.

I joined the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Yazoo City. I’m a life member. I’m about to turn 91. I’m proud I’ve lived this long. I don’t know how much longer I’ve got. But nobody knows.”

Bill