Honor your hero with thoughts, memories, images and stories.
On January 27, 1973 at 9:05 p.m. at An Loc, Republic of Vietnam, Colonel William B. Nolde was killed instantly by an enemy artillery shell that had landed near his position while he was talking with the commander, and staff, of the 5th ARVN Ranger Group, all of whom were wounded. Ironically, Colonel Nolde was discussing with his Vietnamese Counterpart how best to get the economy rolling again at the end of the war, just hours away. Colonel was a career soldier, having served in the Korean War prior to Vietnam, he was on his third tour of duty at the time of his death. He was a sensitive and caring man, he studied the culture and learned the language of the Vietnamese. He was a familiar figure in the refugee camps, encouraging the people with his positive attitude. The children followed him everywhere. He saw no conflict between his roles as a soldier and humanitarian. One of the first things Nolde did was to rebuild a bombed out Catholic Church in his province. It was being used for services even though there was no roof or seats. A devout Roman Catholic, Colonel Nolde would attend Buddhist services with his Vietnamese counterparts and villagers before going to Mass. Just weeks before his death, Colonel Nolde wrote to a friend on the faculty of Central Michigan University, “For the sake of the Vietnamese people particularly I would like to see peace finally arrive. We tend to think only in terms of what this war has cost the United States, but by comparison, in what it has cost the people of Vietnam, our price pales.” Colonel William B. Nolde was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors. He left a wife, Joyce, and five other children.
I served under LTC Nolde in 1969-1970, when he was the Battalion Commander, 5th BN, 30th Field Artillery, a Sergeant Missile battalion deployed in northern Italy. I was a firing battery commander as a First Lieutenant and was replaced when the unit received two captains on orders to command. LTC Nolde selected me to command his HHB and I commanded it for a year before being deployed to Vietnam. When I received orders for Vietnam, LTC Nolde showed me a letter from Gen Westmoreland asking him to serve another tour in VN as an area advisor and he gave me a letter to give to my incountry assignment officer asking to be assigned to his area as an advisor. As it turned out, that was not in the cards and I was not with him in Vietnam. The description of him as a humanitarian is spot on. He was a good officer, a good commander, a good man and a good friend.