After a Marine Corps recruiter arrived on Willis King, Jr.'s high school campus in 1965, King's mother knew her son was going to be drafted. King had the opportunity to enlist, attend college, and then join the Marines. 25 days after he graduated from college, he attended flight school and was in Vietnam within a year. His missions constituted flying in and out of I Corps, the most northern region of South Vietnam, including the highly contested DMZ, where he transferred supplies, ammunition, and rescued Prisoners of War.