PFC - E2 - United States Marine Corps
0331 - Infantry Machine Gunner
K Company, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines

20 Years Old
Salina, Kansas
October 27, 1946 to April 30, 1967

LCPL John Burdette Appleton was with William Beller, Jr. on
Hill 881 when they both perished on April 30, 1967.

The Salina Journal
May 1967

Third Salinan Killed in SVN

The war in Vietnam has claimed a third Salina youth.  Marine officers informed
Mr. and Mrs. William R. Beller, Sr. that their son, PFC William R. Beller, Jr. died
April 30 in action near Khe Sanh in South Vietnam.  Khe Sanh is in the northwest
part of South Vietnam in an area which has been the scene of heavy fighting the
last few days.

Associated Press dispatches have described Khe Sanh as a Marine outpost about
five miles southeast of the Hill 381 area, site of three peaks won by U.S. Marines only
Friday in a major and costly battle.

The Marines said PFC Beller died of gunshot wounds in the chest.

He was a member of Company K, 3rd Battalion, 9th Marines.  PFC Beller entered
the Marine Corps in October of 1966.  He had been in Vietnam since March.

He was a member of the Salina High class of 1966 and was the starting fullback on the
school football team.

He was born October 27, 1946 at Russell.  He moved with his family to Salina in 1952.

Surviving are his mother, Mrs. Dorothy Beller, Russell, his father William R. Beller, Sr.
and stepmother, Mrs. Anna Beller, a stepbrother, Harold Dickey, a half-sister, Shirley
Parkinson, and two stepsisters Judy Ann Sales and Delpha D. Coble.

Funeral arrangements are to be announced by the Guy R. Ry and Sons mortuary.
Burial will be at Gypsum Hill cemetery.  Marine Corps officials said it usually
takes from six to 18 days for a body to arrive from Vietnam.

It will be the third funeral for a young Salinan killed in Vietnam fighting.

Marine PFC Lloyd Dean Lake , 20, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lake was
killed by a sniper near Da Nang on January 15, 1966.  He was buried in Prairie
Mound cemetery in Solomon 11 days later.

Marine CPL Gary D. Nail, also 20, the son of Mrs. Alice Nail and Ovie Nail
died in action near Da Nang, too.  His burial was in Roselawn Memorial Park
April 15, 1966.

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