I lost an acquaintance the other day, his name was William Duty. He died unexpectedly at 51 years old. He had just walked out of a gym, sat down in his car and died, just like that. My relationship with him is unusual, because we first met in Guam in 1989, then we managed to cross paths again in Memphis 7,500 miles away and 25 years later.
Will was not only in my division when we were stationed in Guam, we also saw each other on Saturdays at the nearby Andersen AFB in the Project Warrior wargaming club. Our tours overlapped by about six months (I arrived in June 1989, he left about Christmas 1989). Here in Memphis, we usually saw each other at board gaming meetups. When I first bumped into him several years ago, we didn't realize who the other was. I lost hair, he grew out his hair and a beard and we both gained weight. It took me talking about my time in Guam that he overheard and we started talking and realized we knew each other. In fact, a very close friend of mine Bill Weldon who followed me from Hawaii to Guam a few months later, ended up in Will's shop and Will trained Bill.
The last time we saw each other, I was talking about when Project Warrior as a group crossed a Modern D10 land wargame (I forget the name) and Battletech. I was playing Commander of the Battlemech lance (4 'Mechs) and Will was coordinating fire with a platoon of APC's armed with FOG-M's (Fiber Optic Guided Missiles). Those damn FOG-M's were killing a 'Mech a turn and were out of sight and way out of range for me.
I titled this "Unfinished business" because I still have a newsletter from Project Warrior and I promised to scan it and send him a copy. I don't think my email can reach into the next world. Will, you will be missed by many people.
