William H Biggs

Staff Sergeant

USMC

Died in Service

22 Mar 1941  -  8 Apr 1970

N0EFJ  N0FAA  N0RTW

Bill Biggs, my mentor (and best friend) was the best scrounger and trader I have ever known.  - Barry Weathersby N0EFJ, N0EFA

N0RTW was our gateway when Bill Biggs was CHOP at that station in Barstow.  I can say without shame that I came to love Bill Biggs just like my own brother.  Bill Biggs was the best darn MARS Operator with whom I ever had the pleasure to work - Dan Gannon N0EFS

Desert Dispatch

Barstow, California San Bernardino County

Thursday April 9, 1970

(Front Page Banner Headline)

TWO MARINES DIE IN ACCIDENT

 Barstow – Three men, two Marines from the supply center here, were killed last night in two bloody crashes near Victorville.  Both accidents involved heavy trucks.

 Killed were:

      Bill Biggs, 30, a Marine stationed with the MARS relay station here.

Edward Gillespie, 23, also connected with the MARS station.

Reports from the county coroner’s office and the Victorville California Highway Patrol station indicate that Biggs and Gillespie met death yesterday evening when their small foreign car smashed into a big 75-ton tractor-trailer clay truck on Highway 18 near Dead Man’s Point.  The truck, officers said, apparently pulled in front of the auto from a private road leading to the Morrison Knudson Clay Co, after waiting for two other autos to pass by.

Gillespie’s auto, according to sources, was reportedly traveling in the dusk without headlights.  He died of head injuries at 9 p.m. in St. Mary’s Hospital in Victorville, while Biggs was pronounced dead on arrival at 7 p.m.  Coroner’s spokesman said that their auto had left 86 feet of skid marks before slamming into front portion of the truck and wedging partially underneath the frame.