WALTRIP, WILLIAM E.
On Friday morning, April 6 [2018], a hero went to join the Pantheon of heroes. There are lives well lived and then there are lives that are the stuff of novels. William “Bill” E. Waltrip’s life was the latter. Born August 17, 1919 in Springfield, Illinois, son of Mary Shrader Waltrip and William Henry Waltrip, he grew up in his family’s hometowns of Mattoon and Tuscola. Most of his youth was spent on his Grandfather Waltrip’s farm where he found his love of horses and the outdoors, which lasted his entire life. Working the horse teams alongside his beloved Grandfather was where he was happiest. He always described his childhood as perfect, and he would love to tell the experiences of life spent on the farm in a small Illinois town with his younger brother John Waltrip.
After completing high school, he attended Eastern Illinois University. The war was building in Europe and there were increasing problems with Japan. The National Draft was coming, and Bill decided to join the service of his choice, the Marines, in June 1941. He had his recruit training and boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. This was followed by his assignment to the 8th Marine Regiment.
With the outbreak of war with Japan in December, 1941, the 8th Regiment, as a part of the 2nd Marine Brigade, sailed for the South Pacific in January, 1942. After their arrival in Pago Pago, American Samoa, Bill volunteered for assignment to the 1st Marine Raider Battalion. This special battalion would be known as Edson’s Raiders. The First Marine Raiders proceeded to the French-controlled island of New Caledonia to establish a base camp prior to joining the 1st Marine Division on the Fiji Islands. Once attached, they were to take part in the first U.S. offensive of World War II. The objective of the offensive was to capture the Japanese-held airfield located on Guadalcanal, in the Solomon Island group.
Bill’s first fight was on the Japanese HQ island of Tulagi. Then he deployed to the main Island and the historically significant battle of Guadalcanal. This was where the Raiders objective was an assault against the Japanese-held territory and the recapture of the airfield. He fought in the infamous Battle of Bloody Ridge, a battle documented in the book by his dear Marine comrade, Marlin Groft. From the Solomons, the Raiders went on to New Georgia, assisting an Army operation by preventing the enemy landing of troops and supplies and assisting the U.S. forces in a capture of a forward air base on Munda Point. Bill was awarded the Silver Star for gallantry against the enemy. While on reconnaissance, leading his squad forward they took a concealed enemy machine gun crew and captured the position. Bill went on to land on Iwo Jima on the 23rd of February, 1945 as part of the 3rd Div. 9th Reg. It was during the battle for the capture of the most strategic airfield of the Pacific Theater that he was wounded by machine gun fire and evacuated to Wake Island. For that action he was awarded a Purple Heart. Bill never boasted of his gallantry, sharing only with friends interested in the history of the Marines, especially in more recent years, with his dear friend and neighbor, Tom Sullivan.
After the end of World War II, Bill went back to Illinois, but reenlisted after a year and returned to Camp Pendleton training and specializing in military security. His next assignment was China. First, assigned in Tsingtao and then on to Shanghai with the Military Police. He resided at the American Embassy on the Bund, experiencing the final days of a city and country that was undergoing great changes. The Marines played an important part of the evacuation of the last foreigners of Shanghai and left on June 6, 1949, three days before the fall of China.
Bill went on to fight in the Korean War, landing at Inchon. The Marines were part of the invasion force of X Corps. Inchon was the successful amphibious plan of General Douglas McArthur to land “in force” behind the North Korean forces. He fought all the way to Seoul before being re-deployed to Wonson, Korea on the East Coast. The Marines of the 3rd Div. 9th Reg. were tasked to proceed north to the Chosin Reservoir to provide relief of the encircled Marines and Army personnel in mid-winter of 1950. The relief column was ambushed by Chinese troops, his unit receiving heavy mortar fire. Bill was injured as he leapt from the transport which put him out of action. He earned his Bronze Star in a prior engagement in disabling two of three enemy tanks. He liked to say the third tank was abandoned because the North Koreans were not aware he was out of bazooka rockets.
Not leaving the Marines, he served in many security capacities in American facilities throughout the world, Panama, London, Cairo, Daharan and Istanbul. His lifelong love of literature and history came alive in these exotic locations. He travelled with Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, worked on the security for the Suez conference and many other projects. Bill met the people that were making history and who were characters out of the history books that he loved, such as Colonel Lawrence of Arabia, but it was in Istanbul that his life would change.
In Istanbul, Bill’s friends from the embassy wanted to introduce him to a beautiful woman from East Prussia, Traute Sobottka. He didn’t want any introductions and had no thoughts of marriage. Traute wasn’t interested in meeting the handsome American her friends kept talking about either. Finally, fate stepped in and as Traute walked down a flight of stairs Bill saw her and was smitten. Asking his friends who she was, they said that this was the girl they wanted him to meet. The course of their history changed. After a whirlwind courtship, with Bill jumping on military flights to go to where she was, London, Vienna, anywhere, even if for just an hour to see her, he sent two gentlemen, diamond company representatives, to her Amsterdam hotel, one carrying the ring and one a bouquet of tulips. She accepted the ring, and that was the beginning of an amazing marriage that brought them to Santa Barbara in 1958 and ultimately, to Carpinteria in 1961.
In 1960, they bought land in the foothills with a sweeping view of the Santa Ynez Mountains. Bill always wanted room for a home and horses, he got both. There was a mature avocado orchard and there they built their house together. In 1961, their daughter Kathleen was born and life was good.
Bill held the position of Marine Corps recruiter in Santa Barbara and retired from the Marines in 1963 to take on a new career with the U.S. Forest Service, serving in fire protection and later arson and crime investigation, starting just in time for the Coyote Fire. His was a dream job, patrolling the hills from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara by truck and horseback, getting to know every canyon, ranch and the people that lived there. Bill was able to ride his beloved horses Flash and Jube into the backcountry with his colleagues and friends. He always considered himself to be lucky in his second career. This past December, he watched as the Thomas fire burned the mountains and hills around his beloved property. He and Traute evacuated after midnight not knowing if they would return. Fortunately the property was unscathed.
Retiring as Chief Law Enforcement Officer of the Los Padres National Forest in 1983 after 20 years, Bill began planning trips around the world. He loved train travel and took the Siberian express across Russia to Vladivostok, the Raj train across India and a long trip across Australia. His love of books and history kept him busy, continually reading and sharing his knowledge with his friends and always in weekly calls to his brother, until John passed away. Time was spent keeping regular contact with his dear Marine Corps friends and those he grew up with. Then there were the morning coffee meetings at the donut shop in Carpinteria, where all the men met and solved the world’s problems.
If I was to describe him to a stranger, it wouldn’t be easy. A friend once said he was “more John Wayne than John Wayne could ever be” but I would say that he had the diplomacy and talent for speaking of Ronald Reagan, the integrity of a Supreme Court justice, drop-dead movie star looks, the most brilliant blue eyes, a rich baritone with the ability to make up songs on the spot, quietly generous to those in need, a brilliant mind and a sharp quick wit even until the end, but most of all, he was without bravado. He was a humble man who never bragged about his heroism and service. He was a proud Marine to the end, getting a final crew cut from his dear friend and barber, Jess Martinez. He will be missed by all whose lives he touched. Somewhere I’m sure he’s riding Flash alongside all the great heroes before him. Semper Fi.
William is survived by his wife of 59 years, Traute, his daughter Kathleen and many close friends here and around the country. In lieu of flowers, donations in his honor can be made to the Carpinteria Historical Society. There will be a celebration of this amazing life at a later date.