In the year 1942 a boy by the name of Bill Denton was born. He lived in Baxter Springs, Kansas for the first few years of his life before moving to Joplin, Missouri. This city developed his character and began his life. Bill had an abnormal life. He was constantly being moved from school to school never staying in the same place for more than two years. When he turned twenty-two the government had started the draft. Bill knew that he would be considered for the draft, so instead he enlisted. This would allow him to come home after two years of service versus the normal four years. After the war he received three metals: the Vietnam Service medal, the Good Conduct medal, and the Expert Rifle M14 medal. As he became older he developed Parkinson disease from serving in the war and later died from it. Denton was a very hard working man. He was short for his age group, only standing about five foot nine. Bill had jet black hair, which was kept very short and black rimmed glasses that framed his face. His skin was darker because of his Native American heritage and he had large, soft chocolate brown eyes.…show more content… Army to serve in the Vietnam War. At this time the draft was about to be taken into affect and Denton enlisted so that he could come home to his family sooner. One of the stories that he told was of the journey to Vietnam. He told of the giant swells in the ocean that could've easily engulfed the ship and all the soldiers that were on it. These swells made many of the men on the ship extremely sick. As Bill noted the majority of them had their heads hanging over the side of the boat and could not eat. However the rough waters did not make Denton sick at all. In fact the salty air made his appetite grow. While all the other men were sicker than dogs Bill would sit on the deck and eat his portion of food along with all the other men's who couldn't eat. He loved watching the waves even though he got yelled at for going
