Bill would be deeply pleased by your comments.
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<br>Let me tell you a couple things about Bill (my all-time favorite hunting partner) that may surprise you -- until you think 'em over:
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<br>-- Bill (like our mutual pard Elmer K and diametrically opposite to our other friend Colonel Charles A) was profoundly glad that he'd never killed anyone -- which only adds to my enjoyment of his answer to the pesky, openly hostile news babe who on a live broadcast asked him how many men he'd killed. I double over whenever I imagine that reporter's news director feverishly trying to block Bill's answer from going out over the air ("Eleven," he said, "and a passel of Mexicans").
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<br>-- Bill had absolutely no personal, private, hobby interest in handguns, gear, or handgunning. He wrote about these subjects solely out of loyalty to his editors and his readers and for your benefit. After one of our hunts, we were sitting and talking quietly -- I was trying to get Bill to write (for Handloader and Rifle) some articles on what I knew were his favorite subjects -- hunting rifles and shotguns. In a flash of insight, I said that I'd guess that thoughts of handguns (etc) brought back painful memories, while thinking of rifles and shotguns brought back pleasant memories. Bill's head swung toward me sharply, in obvious surprise at that perception, as he very promptly said "That's true!" Then I "lost him" for a moment as he looked far off and murmured "That's VERY true."
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<br>... and a third thing, which I'm sure you don't already know about my old pard, is probably a total surprise to anybody but a fellow Southerner -- the correct pronunciation of Bill's surname is JURR-d'n, not JORR-don. He never corrected anyone, as far as I know, but he told me this once in private confidence.
