Over 1,200 Attend Funeral for Vietnam Fallen Billy David Hill

More than 1,200 attend funeral for Vietnam veteran Billy David Hill
Killeen Daily Herald
Jacob Brooks Herald staff writer
December 17, 2015

Clay Thorp
Army soldiers fold the American flag and prepare to present it to the family of Sgt. 1st Class Billy David Hill on Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, at the Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen.

More than 1,200 people, many of them Vietnam veterans, attended a military funeral service Thursday in Killeen for Sgt. 1st Class Billy David Hill, a platoon sergeant killed in Vietnam when his helicopter was shot down by enemy gunfire nearly 48 years ago.

The emotions were “overwhelming,” said Gatesville resident Beverly Jacobs, Hill’s cousin.

For decades, the family had wondered what happened to Hill, who disappeared after the helicopter he was on crashed near Khe Sahn in central Vietnam.

About a dozen veterans who served with Hill in Vietnam journeyed from around the nation to attend the funeral.
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