Clyde William Null Jr.

(April 5, 1930—July 15, 2017)

Bill enlisted in the US Navy on his eighteenth birthday in 1948, as a seaman recruit, trained to be a hospital corpsman, and retired nearly 24 years later as a Lieutenant Commander, after serving during the Korean War and Vietnam War at naval dispensaries and hospitals, a blimp base, on a repair ship, a survey ship (in the Caribbean and Greenland area), a small ship used for target practice by submarines, an aircraft carrier in the Mediterranean, an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, and a hospital ship (stationed on the coast of South Vietnam), during which tour he was awarded a Navy Achievement Medal for meritorious achievement during combat operations.

Bill was born April 5, 1930, in Frederick, Maryland, and, at 87, died in his sleep at a memory-care unit in Dallas, Texas, on July 15, 2017, from complications relating to Alzheimer’s Disease, which had been diagnosed more than seven-and-a-half years earlier. Bill was preceded in death by his parents, Clyde William Null, Sr., and Dorothy W. Booth Null Decharo, and his sister, Dottie Lee Phillips. Bill is survived by his sister, Louise Humerick, of Knoxville, Maryland; seven children, including Gary Null, and wife, Leslie, of Dallas, Texas; Jeff Null, and wife, Louise, of Kearneysville, West Virginia; Vicki Morgan, and husband, Hicks Morgan, of Dallas, Texas; Michael Null, and wife, Giaanh, of Brunswick, Maryland; Bo Null, of Aurora, Colorado; Sara Surprenant, of Aurora, Colorado, and Dennis Null, and wife, Louise, of Birmingham, Alabama; fifteen grandchildren and fifteen great grandchildren.

After retirement from the Navy in 1972, Bill became the administrator of the City of Milan Hospital in Milan, Tennessee, then managed the practice of a group of neurosurgeons in Alabama, inspected nursing homes for the State of Alabama, and managed nursing homes in Georgia, before retiring to Las Vegas, Nevada, and later moving to Brunswick, Maryland. Within two years after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease, he moved to a memory-care unit in Dallas, Texas, where two of his children live.

Within minutes after meeting him, any new acquaintance knew he had served in the US Navy, which was his proudest achievement. He was always ready to share an anecdote or life lesson from his Navy experience, some of them rated PG or R.

Bill was always proud of his service as a hospital corpsman and later, medical administrator in the Navy, and his family is proud of his service to country and his rise from the lowest-ranking enlisted man to a high-ranking officer in the US Navy.

Private services, with full military honors, will be held at Arlington National Cemetery at a date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations in honor of Clyde “Bill” Null may be made to the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) Scholarship Fund, 201 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314, or www.moaa.org/donatenow.