at Tech. At the time Bill was killed, I was in Cu Chi, which was close to the location that Bill was killed.
This is a poem I wrote commemorating him:

Memorial Day, 2011
William Winton Webb, Feb 20, 1942 - Jun 5, 1966

Our classmate’s name can be seen on the Wall,
His image also fresh in our memories for recall,
On June 5, ’66, he was merely twenty-four,
When into his body metal fragments did bore,

We first met him in ’60 on a hot, humid fall day,
All coming to Virginia Tech to improve their resume,
Aspiring for a diploma, not a statistic of attrition,
Like us, he hoped to fulfill a life ambition,

On the upper-quad he discovered Montieth Hall,
And a resting-‘hole’ from which he would later crawl,
M Company’s mentors quickly gave him so much,
Orders to obey, Hokie proud tradition and such,

They shaped him with more than military structure,
He had to adopt the discipline of a rat’s culture,
Learn to eat square-meals with eyes straight ahead,
Endure ordeals mere mortals would certainly dread,

With his Brother Rats he was stripped to the core,
To be reshaped into a man and even much more,
Survival’s first rule they immediately did grasp,
Leaning on one another would be their first task,

Rooted into him was Virginia Tech’s honor code,
Principals to steer him down life’s bumpy road,
Day after day, he performed to his best,
He removed every impediment to his quest,

He made time to polish shoes and to shine brass,
Yet meet academic responsibilities assigned in class,
That fall and winter passed, then came the spring,
Exchanging his white belt for black it would bring,

In four years he had the diploma that he sought,
With sweat it was earned, it couldn’t be bought,
After graduation he disassembled one final time,
And said his goodbyes, it was truly sublime,

But one more duty he had yet to perform,
It would require that he change his uniform,
To protect his Country from all forms of ill,
Lt. William Winton Webb, our classmate Bill,

In the U.S. Army, during ‘66 he would later be,
In hostile territory to keep foreigners free,
His assignment was in Long Binh, Corps Three,
An obscure place on Earth most would never see,

A month later, in an ambush there Bill would fall,
Fulfilling his promise, that moment did forestall,
His Brother Rats now living extend a closing tribute,
In unison they rise to give Bill an eternal salute.


M Company, CLASS OF 1964
Virginia Tech Cadet Corps