Soldier Loved Family, Literature, Country

Former N.Va. Resident, Who Was Killed in Iraq, Called a 'Renaissance Man'

Maj. William F. Hecker III called himself "slightly eccentric." He studied Mark Twain's novels, recently edited a book on Edgar Allan Poe and loved baseball.

But Hecker, 37, who was killed Thursday in Iraq, is best described as a family man and soldier, said his mother, Nancy Hecker of Vienna.

"My daughter-in-law used to call him a Renaissance man. He loved good wine and good coffee and good books," she said. "But mostly he loved his family and his country."

Hecker, who lived in Northern Virginia as a teenager, died with four other soldiers in Najaf when an explosive detonated near their Humvee, the Defense Department said. Capt. Christopher P. Petty, 33, a graduate of James Madison High School in Vienna, was killed in the blast.

Yesterday, Hecker's family and friends gathered in Harker Heights, Tex., where he lived with his wife, Richelle, and their four young children. Hecker had been assigned to the 4th Infantry Division at nearby Fort Hood.

He had spent Thanksgiving with his wife, children and parents, who had traveled from Vienna for the holiday. He left for Iraq the next day.

"He was looking forward to going," his mother said. "He was doing his duty, and he believed in what he was doing and hoped he could make a difference."

Hecker, a literature buff who was an assistant English professor at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, comes from a family with strong ties to the military. His father, Col. William F. Hecker Jr., is a retired Army officer who served two tours in Vietnam. His brother, John Hecker, is in the Marine Corps and is stationed in Japan.

Nancy Hecker said that ever since the third grade, her son wanted to "be in the Army, just like his dad."

When the Hecker boys were young, the family traveled the country and the world. They lived in Germany and Alabama and came to Northern Virginia in the mid-1980s. The brothers attended McLean High School in Fairfax County.

After graduating from high school, William Hecker went to West Point, where he studied engineering management and sang in the glee club. In the 1990s, he was stationed in Oklahoma, Germany, and Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2000, Hecker received a master's degree in English from the University of Oregon and went back to West Point, where he was an assistant English professor for three years. As an academic, he studied Twain and presented a paper about baseball and patriotism. He edited a book about Poe's stint as a West Point cadet titled "Private Perry and Mister Poe: The West Point Poems, 1831."

"He was known to say he was slightly eccentric," his mother said.

She said one of her son's greatest joys was literature. In the evenings, he would read to his children: Alexandra, 10, Victoria, 7, Cordelia, 4, and William, 2.

Nancy Hecker said her son had hoped to write about his experiences in Iraq. He dreamed of going back to school for a doctorate and seeking a permanent teaching position at West Point.

During his first weeks in Iraq, Hecker had started arranging a family trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando for this coming Christmas, his mother said. She said the family hopes to carry through his plans.