William, the son of William A. Joyce and Louise A. Joyce (pre-deceased her son) of Brockton Massachusetts, enlisted in the US Marine Corps on April 4, 1963 in Boston Massachusetts. He was initially assigned to Headquarters Company, 7th Marines, 1st MARDIV that landed in Chu Lai Vietnam on August 14, 1965. They went under operational control of the 3d MARDIV (Rein) FMF after landing. On February 19, 1966 Joyce was reassigned for duty with Company C, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines. Twelve Marines were reported killed in action on 28 March 1966 during Operation INDIANA when Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 7th Marines assaulted an entrenched Viet Cong force in Vinh Loc hamlet complex. The battle had been costly for the men of Company C, with over forty men wounded and ten of their comrades dead, among them PFC Joyce who had sustained enemy gunshot wounds to his body. Company C lost: G Btry, 3rd Bn, 11th Marines Pfc Edmund F. Eddy, Hartford, CT (Arty F/O team member attached to C/1/7) C Co, 1st Bn, 7th Marines SSgt John G. Bansavage, Amsterdam, NY Sgt Pedro Padilla, Albuquerque, NM Sgt Colon R. Rodriguez, New York, NY Cpl Richard L. Mayes, Sidney, MT Cpl John L. McCarty, Stockton, CA Pfc Michael R. Beck, Cheyenne, WY Pfc Paul E. Hassey, New Bedford, MA Pfc William F. Joyce, Hyde Park, MA Pfc Thomas McEntee, Philadelphia, PA Pfc Leroy E. Simons, Springfield, OH Initial casualty reports for Charlie Company included the ten names above - and a "Pfc Richard Joseph Preskenis", who was very much alive near Boston, Massachusetts, and not at all a U.S. Marine. It developed that William F. Joyce, who had been rejected by his draft board, had used the identify of Richard Preskenis, a childhood friend's brother when he enlisted in the Marines in 1963. Richard Preskenis' name is the only civilian name engraved on The Wall in Washington D.C. PFC Joyce is buried in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Stoughton, Massachusetts.

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