Marty Kurcias
Billy and I were neighbors in Bethesda, MD when we were teenagers in the 1960s. I haven't seen or heard from Billy in about 40 years. Tonight, on a whim, I thought I would Google him, only to find out that he passed away just last month. Billy was a cut-up, always looking to make you laugh. He had a wild streak, too, sometimes doing outlandish things. He would steal cigarettes from my parents, entering our house when no one was home by reaching through the mail slot in the front door to turn the inside door knob. I laughed so hard when he told me about it. Despite all that, he was a very talented violinist and attended prestigious music schools. Billy enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Vietnam War. To this day, he is the only guy from those days that I knew personally that went to Vietnam. We lived in a pretty upscale area and I would wager that he was the only one in the whole neighborhood that went to Vietnam. He survived that but when he came home it was clear that he had been deeply affected by the experience. One of his comrades in arms was Scott Camil, who became prominent in the Vietnam Veterans Against the War (VVAW), the Winter Soldier Investigation, and the peace movement. He once brought Scott around to the radio station in DC where I worked. I eventually lost touch with Billy and later learned he had moved to Florida with his dad. Billy had a good heart and a gentleness that was not always apparent on first impression. I'll always remember Billy as a part of my youth. My condolences to Cooky and his other family and friends. RIP Billy.