By John Montesano
In keeping with the theme of Middle East Conflicts in which the Memorial Wall will be in Oswego, May 22-31, the Fox Valley Veterans Breakfast Club has named William “Will” Sutton, the March Veteran of the Month.
Will Sutton, born May 24, 1989, lived in Boston, Mass. until he was seven years old at which time he and his brother moved to the South Side of Chicago where they were raised by their great grandmother, Roberta. He was 11 years old when he observed the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on television in his classroom. Coming from a family of military men, his reaction was anger.
In 2006, Will was graduated from Lincoln’s Challenge Academy in Rantoul. After graduation Will knew he was going to go into the military, but he wanted something on which to fall back. He went to Job Corps in St. Louis where he became a journeyman carpenter and worked as such until 2007.
Will wanted the best and, therefore, joined the Marine Corps in September 2007. In 2008-2009, following boot camp and school of infantry, he was at Camp San Mateo Pendleton San Diego, Calif. as a 50 cal machine gunner in Weapons Company, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines (3/5), the Dark Horse Battalion.
In 2009, he was switched to Kilo Company, Weapons Platoon on the M240b machine gun. He was a lance corporal and team leader of a three-man machine gun crew. He was deployed to Sangin, Afghanistan, in September 2010. In July 2010, Third Bat/Seventh Marines initiated clearing operations of the last Taliban stronghold in some of the most dangerous areas of Afghanistan. The Third Bat/Fifth Marines continued and are credited with completing the clearing phase. Sangin is considered the bloodiest battleground of Afghanistan and the bloodiest U.S. battle since Vietnam.
Attached to 3/5 was Kilo company, Will’s unit. In his words: “My day was fire fight after fire fight after fire fight; always, always shooting. I lost 25 killed and over 200 wounded of my Marines within a nine month span. In just two months, 17 of the 25 (who died) had been lost. That’s why the Middle East Conflicts Wall means so much to me. It is why I do what I do now; to live honorably for them.” On one occasion, after breaking his ankle, Will was being evacuated by a corpsman. When the corpsman got shot, Will became the rescuer and carried the corpsman 1,500 feet to safety and saved his life. They eventually accomplished the mission by April 2011.
Will was wounded on Thanksgiving Day 2010. He was shot four times and blown in the air four times by an IED (improvised explosive device). By late December 2010 and his fifth time in a hospital, Will was in Balboa Naval Hospital San Diego, Calif.. He finally got out of the hospital in late December 2011. After two weeks at home, Will was back with his unit at Camp Pendleton to train new Marines. He was retired and honorably discharged August 23, 2013 as a Corporal, E4.
Will returned to Chicago and worked in Armed Security and various other jobs. By 2018, he went to Para Med school and in January 2019, while still in training, began an internship with the Veterans Assistance Commission (NAC) of Kendall County. He has stayed with the VAC and is a veterans service officer.
Will and his wife, Breon, were married March 19, 2015. They are raising their three children, Jeremiah, Nalah, and Leon, in Yorkville.
Will is a member of the Marine Vets Motorcycle Club; and Dark Horse Marine Memorial Chapter.
His current mission is: “I want to live my life in honor of the 25 I lost, make them proud, and be a good role model to today’s kids.”