William Bill Fundling was born in Texas City in 1921 with his family moving to Galveston as a young child. Growing up on the Island he was an altar boy in a local Catholic Church, attained the rank of Eagle Scout and and joined the United States Marine Corps Reserve Detachment in 1937 at the age of 16 as well as participating in the Ball High JROTC program. Graduating from Ball High in 1938 he worked for a ships chandler until called to active duty in 1939. Training at Camp Kearney Mesa near Camp Pendleton in California it was a time for rapid expansion with the Marine Corps quickly quadrupling in size. He had just arrived home on leave when the Japanese struck Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 and he immediately departed to return to the California Base. He landed at Guadalcanal as a 21 year old Gunnery Sergeant, later moved on to Papua New Guinea then to New Zealand with his unit to refit and back to New Guinea. He mustered out at the end of the war in 1945. After the war he began work at Amoco (now BP) in Texas City. In April,1947 his father disappeared in the Texas City Explosion. Despite days checking makeshift moratoriums his father was never found. In June 1947 he married my mother Inez Breneman and they built their home on Oak Drive in Dickinson. They had four children and were together for 60 years. He worked in the petro-chemical industry for 39 years. Moving to Nacogdoches County in 1985 he spent the remainder of his years in the pine forest he loved. He lost my mother in 1988 and followed this week.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:20:01 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015