William Alvin Comly

Corporal William Alvin Comly was born on March 6, 1950. He lived in Haddon Township and was a 1968 graduate of Haddon Township High School. “Billy” was a member of the 1968 championship wrestling team and both quarterback and guard on the football team that won first place in the Marine Corps physical fitness meets. In 1966, he won a first place trophy for the Pleasantville 100 mile water-skiing course. William was a member of the 1968 Wildwood Beach Patrol.

William Comly enlisted in the US Marine Corps in May 1968, after graduation. During his basic training at Parris Island he was named Honor Man of his platoon. He later received training as a paratrooper. He attained the rank of Corporal.

Corporal Comly was sent to Vietnam, beginning his tour of duty on August 26, 1969. He was assigned to 1st Platoon, G Company, 2nd Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division. He was scheduled to return home during the summer of 1970. On March 11, 1970, at the age of 20, Corporal William Alvin Comly was killed in action by small arms fire in Quang Nam Province, South Vietnam.

William Alvin Comly was brought home and buried in Locustwood Cemetery, Route 70 & Cooper Landing Road, Cherry Hill, New Jersey.

William Alvin Comly is honored on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Panel 13W, Line 111.

I always wondered about Bill Comly. We grew up in the same town, blocks from one another but he was so much “older” than I (or so it seemed at the time). I used to walk by his family home on my way to school every day. I knew of them — didn’t really know them personally. I was in 7th grade when an announcement was made at our school that an alumni had died in the war. I’ve thought about him and his family and his comrades so many times over the years. I never really understood what was going on at the time — I wasn’t even a teen yet. And he was only out of his teens by 5 days. Now, I can’t seem to get enough information about Vietnam, and what I do find out amazes, scares and saddens me. How could this have happened to so many of our young men? I pray that it never does again. Today is the first time I found this information on Bill Comly and tears form as my heart goes out to him and so many others who gave their lives. You are truly heroes. I don’t know that I could ever be so brave. Now that I have my own son, I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like to send a son off to war, let alone not have him return. God bless you all.

— Bobbi Paul (McCarthy), lived in neighborhood, Glendale, Arizona — May 28, 2001