Bill Dolan

[Neil Albaugh]

In 1962 i was in a Guided Missile direct support detachment in Babenhausen, Germany. We received a new man (FNG) and the company clerk discovered that he had been assigned to our unit by mistake- two numbers in his MOS had been mis-typed and transposed. SP4 Bill Dolan was sent to us as a Radar Repairman but his actual MOS was a Small Arms Repairman! Bill didn't know a thing about electronics, much less radar, so there was a problem finding him something to do while this mistake was being straightened out.

We soon learned that Bill was quite a guy and had a remarkable background. He had prior service in the USMC and had even attended Recondo School. He was also hysterically funny and never forgot a joke. Later he drew cartoons for The Army paper in VietNam- he was a very talented artist.

One day I had retrieved some photos that I had taken from the PX and made the mistake of forgetting then in our barracks Day Room. Bill found my photos and proceeded to add captions.