Community Corner

Remembering Lance Cpl. Taylor Wild: 'Never Alone, Never Forgotten'

The Marine Corps hosted a ceremony in North Carolina on Tuesday to honor Lance Cpl. William Taylor Wild IV.

On Tuesday, the Wild family attended a ceremony hosted by the Marine Corps for Lance Cpl. William Taylor Wild IV and the six other Marines killed in the training accident in Nevada on March 18.

The 1st Battalion, 9th Marine Regiment hosted the private ceremony at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.

At the ceremony, Lance Cpl. Levi Herring, who served with Wild, gave a eulogy. Wild’s mom, Betz Wild, shared a transcript of the eulogy with Patch.

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William Taylor Wild was born Dec. 17th in Severna Park Md. where he grew up with a love for baseball, and a love for his friends and family. He joined the Marine Corps shortly after his graduation from high school where he was assigned to 1st Battalion 9th Marines Wpns. Co as a mortarman. He excelled quickly. From day one in the fleet he was constantly bettering himself. Whether it was physically or mentally. He proved himself time after time under stress. Whether it was in combat or in the classroom. Wild was without doubt a man with goals in which he planned to obtain.                

When he first hit the fleet in early May of 2010, he seemed very timid and nervous, as is expected of new marines during their first few months around seniors. But that didn’t last long at all. After a couple weeks, Wild was in full swing. He had a very sarcastic sense of humor, smug attitude, and a knack for quick learning, which lead everybody to loving him. Whenever things got rough, he could always crack a joke, and flash his big goofy smile to brighten everybody up.  He knew when to be serious and when to joke around. He was always testing people to see how far he could get with them, but never far enough to cause any trouble.                

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Once our deployment in Afghanistan ended and we returned back to Lejeune, Wild’s ambition to lead did not end. He knew that most of our Seniors would be getting out soon, and that somebody was going to have to take over. Soon after our return, he was selected to go to Mortar Leaders Course. He stated that he didn’t enjoy the long hours, but loved all of the information that he was learning. While there, he met mortarmen from throughout the battalion, including one of which was to become one of his best friends, Roger Muchnick.

Soon after his graduation from Mortar Leaders, volunteers were called to go on another deployment, this time to Kuwait. Wild jumped at the opportunity. A few weeks later, all of the volunteers were sent over to Alpha Co. Wild and Muchnick had officially been thrown together. The two of them combined, turned Alpha Co’s Wpns Plt into what it was, Bully Plt, the Goon Squad..... and that implied the best. They both carried themselves very highly, working out constantly, playing frisbee in the quad, cracking jokes at other Plts. bringing everybody together with their leadership. They would both take the fall to insure that a marine under them wouldn’t have to hear about something. They were always there.                

Whenever we deployed to Kuwait, Wild was given the name Billy, which he very openly hated. That only caused it to stick. Billy’s leadership abilities really began to really show during Kuwait. He was assigned a team leaders billet, and was in charge of leading QRF patrols. He was never really afraid of how people viewed him as a person, but was afraid of letting people down. He took his leadership roles very seriously, but was able to separate his friends from his work, and get things done without ever raising his voice or making any of the Marines under him feel as though they were being singled out.                

A few weeks after our return from Kuwait, we were sent off to the mountains of Bridgeport to conduct mountain training as part of a workup package for our upcoming deployment. While there, despite the horrid weather conditions, lack of motivation, and continuous training, Billy still maintained his composure. When we weren’t training, he could be found with his two new marines teaching them knowledge, or how to lead through example. He always had a notebook in his pocket that he used to write down information that he deemed necessary to retain, or for a quick reference to answer a question that someone might ask. He was always on top of it. Whenever he saw that one of his buddies was truly upset he would take them aside and have a heart to heart with them to insure that they were going to be alright. Whenever marines would go down due to weather conditions, he would be one of the first responders to insure that, that person was going to be alright, and make it through the night. He was without doubt a born leader.                

10 p.m. March 18th, 2013 marked the end of Billy’s physical life, but not the end of all of the memories and lessons he has shared. He made an impact whether big or small on almost everyone present today. Even though he is now gone, there are traces of his life everywhere. whenever you see an Orioles hat, or a Harry Potter book, or even a can of Nati Bo, thats Billy. A quote that Billy planned on getting tattooed whenever we returned from Bridgeport was “Never Alone, Never Forgotten”. I don’t think a truer quote exists. In his life, he was never alone, and now that he is gone, he will never be forgotten.

For more on Tuesday's ceremony, click here.


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