REDDING, CA, US
U.S. Marine Corps
SGT, 2D BN 4TH MAR, (RCT-6, 2D MAR DIV, II MEF FWD), 1ST MAR DIV, CAMP PENDLETON
01/31/2012, HELMAND PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN
Sergeant William C. Stacy, was killed in action in Afghanistan’s Helmand Province on January 31, 2012. He was on foot patrol and leading his squad when an improvised explosive device went off, killing the twenty-three year old Marine. Sergeant Stacey was awarded a posthumous Purple Heart. He was part of the 1st Marine Division, 2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment.
William Chapman Stacey (Will) was born in New Haven, CT, on March 1, 1988, but grew up in Seattle, WA, where he moved with his parents when he was four months old. A gifted baseball player from a young age, he could hit a pitched wiffle ball over a two story house when he was only two years old. He continued to play baseball until he joined the Marine Corps, rising through the Little League ranks as a perennial all-star, and finishing his high school baseball career as an All-Conference Honorable Mention second baseman for the 2006 Roosevelt High School baseball team in Seattle.
Will Stacy was on his fourth deployment to Afghanistan, and had served in Helmand Province in 2008; and he was just weeks from completing his fifth deployment and returning home. In January 2011 he had re-enlisted for another four year tour of duty. When his deployment was complete, he had plans to spend the last three years of his enlistment as an instructor, perhaps as a drill sergeant or infantry instructor He also talked about eventually going to college and studying history.
Will had a sister, but he was the only son in a family where both parents are teachers. The family knew that Will believed that he was doing the right thing and considered that his work as a Marine was part of the great challenge of his generation. He saw himself as helping to defend his country and trying to make life better for the Afghan people. It was written about him that he helped turn a small town in Helmand Province from a scarred hell to a place where hundreds of children could walk to school every day. He helped to bring sanity and compassion to a place sorely in need of both.
Will left a letter for his family to be read in case he died. Some of his parting words near the end of his letter were intended to comfort them. He wrote: “If my life buys the safety of a child who will one day change this world, then I know that it was all worth it,” He is survived by his parents; his sister; and the love of his life, Kimmy.
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