lest we forget

BILLS, RUFUS WILSON

Rank / Branch:

  • SERGEANT FIRST CLASS, U.S ARMY

Date Of Birth:

  • 1932-12-27

Country Of Loss:

  • SOUTH VIETNAM

Status:

  • HOSTILE-GUNSHOT WOUND

Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground:​

  • GROUND

Other:

  • MARRIED

Unit:

  • MACV TEAM 75

Date Of Loss:

  • 1967-08-03

Loss Coordinates:

  • DINH TUONG

Catagory:

  • BODY RETURNED

Awards & Decorations:

  • SEE BIO

VETERAN HAGI0GRAPHY

  • BILLS, RUFUS WILSON, SERGEANT FIRST CLASS, U.S. ARMY, SWEETWATER, NOLAN, TEXAS

AWARDS AND DECORATIONS

  • COMBAT INFANTRYMANS BADGE, WITH STAR, SILVER STAR, BRONZE STAR WITH OAKLEAF CLUSTER, PURPLE HEART WITH OAKLEAF CLUSTER, ARMY COMMENDATONS MEDAL WITH OAK LEAF CLUSTER, GOOD CONDUCT MEDA WITH FOUR KNOTS, NATIONAL DEFENSE SERVICE MEDAL WITH STAR, HUMANE SUBMANE SERVICE MEDAL, ARMY OF OCCUPATON SERVICE MEDAL (WORLD WAR II, JAPAN) KOREA SERVICE MEDAL, WITH 3 CAMPAIGN STARS, UNITED NATION'S EXPEDIENTARY MEDAL FOR KOREA SERVICE, ARMED FORCES EXPEDIONARY MEDAL (KOREA), VIETNAM SERVICE MEDAL, VIETNAM CROSS OF GALLANTRY WITH PALM, VIETNAM CAMPAIGN MEDAL, VIETNAM HONOR MEDAL, VIETNAM CIVIC ACTION MEDAL, VIETNAM MILITARY MERIT MEDAL, VIETNAM WOUND MEDAL (SERVING AS AN ADVISOR TO THE RVN ARMY)l (serving as advisor to ARVN)

BIOGRAPHY

  • Rufus Wilson was born in Sweetwater, Texas. He preferred his middle name, Wilson or his nickname of Bill. He was the youngest of the three children with an older sister, Ruth and anjN older brother, Cecil, born to Rufus and Linnie Bills. He attended Sweetwater schools to include Newman High School, now known as Sweetwater High School. He was a 1950 graduate of Newman High School. He joined the Army after high school in 1950 and after his initial training, he was assigned to G Company, 8th Cavalry Regiment, First Cavalry Division in Korea. The 8th Cavalry had been mobilized into Korea and were involved in serious fighting for most of the war. He suffered a gunshot wound on June 8, 1951, as the North Korean Army were driven back into North Korea. He earned his first purple heart and first award of the CIB. He was returned to duty in the Eastern Theatre.
  • Wilson decided to make the Army his career and re-enlisted in 1953, after the Korean War armistice was signed. He served in Japan and in various stateside posts and was in Germany in 1959-61 when he met his wife, the former Gisela Muenzer of Karlsruhe, Upper Rhineland Valley, Germany. She came to the states to see her sister in California and she and Wilson married in his sister's home in Odessa in 1961. He, then returned to Germany to participate in the Berlin lift. He arrived back in the states one week before the birth of his daughter. On May 22, 1962, Karen Linn was born in Sweetwater. He was then assigned to Fort Lewis, Washington and the family moved to Tacoma. A daughter, Sharon Ruth was born on March 15, 1963, at Madigan General Hospital, a joint Army-Air Force Hospital near Fort Lewis, Washington. The family remained posted at Fort Lewis until 1964 when he started a tour in Korea, where he remained until late 1965. He, then returned to Germany. Because of the escalation of the fighting in South Vietnam, his Germany tour was cut short, and he began his tour in Vietnam on September 27, 1966.
  • He was assigned as a military advisor with Team 75, Military Assistance Command (MACV). This team was operating primarily in the Delta Region of South Vietnam advising and operating with South Vietnamese troops. He was killed in hostile action on August 3, 1967, six weeks before completing his tour. He was posthumously awarded a Silver Star and his second purple heart. The Vietnamese Government awarded him a Military Merit Medal, Vietnam Wound Medal and Vietnam Honor Medal, 2nd Class.
  • He was buried with full military honors in the Sweetwater City Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Gisela, his daughters, Sharon and Karen, his mother, Linnie, his sister, Ruth and his brother, Cecil. Gisela never re-married and continues to live in Sweetwater. She is active and works for Texas State Technological College as an administrative assistant. Sharon and Karen both graduated from Sweetwater High School. Karen graduated from Angelo State University and is married to Scott Clemmons and they are the parents of a daughter, Bobbi Linn and a son, Chase Wilson. Sharon graduated from Texas Tech University and is unmarried and both daughters live in the Dallas area. His brother, Cecil continues to live in Sweetwater. His mother passed away in 1984 and his sister Ruth Dooly passed away in 2001 in Big Spring and is buried in Sweetwater, next to her parents.
  • IN GERMANY-1966
  • SWEETWATER CEMETERY
  • SENIOR AT NEWMAN HIGH SCHOOL, SWEETWATER, TEXAS 1950