July 30th, 2010

William Carlton Apley's Story

Birth Year: 1953




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    My name is  William Carlton Apley but my friends call me Bill. My parents names are William and Fern Apley. I was born April 27th 1953 on Ellsworth Air force base in Rapid City, South Dakota. Then we moved. I was raised as a cowboy in Colorado. I was a bull rider and did the entire cowboy stuff. I have lots of good friends, Christian friends.

    I have 5 sisters and one stepbrother. I have 3 children Chris, Cory and Colby. Chris has to children one also named Chris and Heather who is the younger. They were born to Chris. The other two don't have children yet.

    If I could tell my children and grandchildren one thing that I feel is very important then I would say, "Pay attention to what God and our Lord Jesus Christ had to say". "That is what I wish to leave as a legacy".

    I went in the service back in1972. I was 18 when they drafted me. I was FACP tactical air patrol. I was a buck sergeant in rank calling in strikes by F4s back when I was in Vietnam. It aint my fault, I was taking orders from a dumb college kid who was a lieutenant. There are more Vietnam vets out on the streets than anybody. We were shot at shit at and some of us hit.

    I have my still have my ID from Vietnam.

    I was at the last walk through by a 2 Star General for the homeless. "There aint no shame to my game". I have been through 6-7 presidents now that have taken services away from me and the other vets.  I don't think they care about any of us now. For the most part we as vets had nothing to support us so we started riding the rails. I have some stories there. If you only knew!  There were so many of us things got kind of crazy. We were killing each other throwing people on the tracks.

    I have been in Commercial Construction now for years. I still am though at the moment I am on break. The last job I had was doing some fireproof roofing on an Elementary School in Ozark, Missouri

    My father God gives me everything I need now. Don't worry about were you will sleep or what you will eat. He will take care of you. The world is full of apathy.

    One of my degrees is in computer science and I was teaching mathematics for a bit. But that ended when I got cut because of financial cutbacks. That caused me to look for a different career. So now I do construction.

    In my day we caught our share of crayfish/frogs. We used chicken fat and we would also use a fake fly on our fishing poles and then put the fly out by the eyes of the frog when they grabbed the hook we would jerk them out or the water and the same with the crayfish. You put some chicken fat on a hook and when you feel them take it you just jerk them out.

    We would cook the frogs up with stale beer. You dip them in the beer then dip them in the egg then role them in some corn meal. I would use butter and garlic and just fry them up. They make real good eating.

    I used to do some hunting. I did get a 6-point bull elk out in the sage flats southwest of Delta, CO. I don't hunt any longer. But I used to hunt pheasant, ptarmigan, chucker, antelope, elk and deer. I quit hunting in 1995 and started hunting with a camera. I just decide that I have about an 85% kill ratio since I was 6 years old. I just up and stopped.

    I left and went to Missouri and worked in Springfield. I was there for two years Springfield. I swore up and down I was going to fish the "Lake of The Ozarks".  But I was to busy working. I plan on going back there this year and fulfill that dream. I have worked all the way down to Table Rock Lake and Branson, MO. I have worked up in Kansas City. Clean out to St. Louis. They have some of the best catfish eating in the entire country in Missouri.

    I have been out to Tupelo Mississippi where Elvis was born. I been all the way down to St. Petersburg and Up to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In fact I was there at the rededication ceremony for the Rocky's Statue. It was me that they have on Channel 10 running up the stairs and my folk's still has the tape. I have seen things and done things that people would never know. So I figure I will just start putting the story down.

    What is most important, what I want to pass on is what's in my heart. Father God! He has taken care of me and brought me home safe allowing me to be out taking care of my brothers. That is my job. Spread the word.

    There is no retirement plan in my business. Everyone needs to know!