Billy Wall was a long-serving paramilitary contractor for the Central Intelligence Agency and a U.S. Army Special Forces (“Green Beret”) veteran of three wars — World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War. He held approximately seventeen Purple Hearts (acknowledging that “some sorry-ass son of a bitch from North Carolina got 18”) and drove a vehicle with the personalized license plate 17 HITS. He worked for the CIA as a contractor for approximately forty years.[1][2]
Joint operation with Kiriakou
John Kiriakou worked with Wall on a joint operation in the United Arab Emirates that combined training delivery with a sensitive electronic-collection component. The substance of the operation remains undisclosed. Kiriakou’s characterization of him: “Billy was a bonafide American hero. Truly a real hero.”[3][1]
Later life and death
Wall’s wife predeceased him of cancer; he had no children and continued operational work because “what else is there to live for? He’s got no kids.” He bought a house in Niceville, Florida. His niece, who lived in Las Vegas, ghost-wrote his autobiography. He died in his nineties.[4][5][6]
The apocryphal story
Wall’s late-life storytelling, per Kiriakou, included one anecdote that turned out to be a scene from the film Apocalypse Now. In his final telling — to Kiriakou — Wall described being shot down behind North Korean lines, encountering a cow in a pasture, slitting the cow’s artery, and drinking its blood for nourishment. Kiriakou: “That was in Apocalypse Now. That wasn’t you. That was from Apocalypse Now.” Wall: “Ah, it still makes for a good story.”[4]