A handwritten sign is taped to the inside of a business's glass door and reads: "Wartime Hours! Daily 11 A.M. to 3 P.M. - Saturday All Day 10 to 5. Appointments Lands 5-6392." The typed note hanging below the handwritten sign reads: "THIS IS WAR! Due to outside work we must cut our office hours down to the minimum for a while. Week days we will be here from eleven to three. Saturdays we will be here all day as usual. We can be reached at other times by phoning Landscape 5 6392. Appointments may be made by phone for evenings or Sunday. Approval books may be left with the shoe repair next door or with Mr. Forres real estate office across and u the street at 2154 Center St. - Globe Stamp Store.
This news clipping is from the January 12, 1970, Palo Alto Times. A Palo Alto soldier serving in Vietnam, disillusioned with public apathy to the conflict, has been killed in action. Funeral services were conducted Sunday in Mountain View. He is Pfc. Billie Michael Bedsworth, 20, a 1967 graduate of Palo Alto High School, who was killed while on a mission near Phu Bai. He was a radioman in the 14th Engineering Battalion. Pfc. Bedsworth recently wrote to his wife, Laura, now living in Mountain View: "It's kind of a downer when you know that 90 percent of the people back home don't want this war. Believe me, nobody over here wants the war and I am risking my life for nothing. The people over here don't want us here except for our money." He had been in South Vietnam since September. About a purpose he had discovered for himself, Bedsworth wrote: " At first you feel scared and then you are a ball of nerves but after a while you just step into a realization that I really can't explain. I have finally found a purpose for myself, to stay alive and care." Pfc. Bedsworth, a resident of Palo Alto for about six years, attended Jordan Junior High School, and Foothill and De Anza colleges before he enlisted. He was a native of Illinois. He attended the Palo Alto First Baptist Church. In addition to his wife, Pfc. Bedsworth is survived by his parents and two sisters, Barbara and Janice Bedsworth, all of Memphis, Tenn. Funeral services were at 7 p.m. Sunday. Colonial Mortuary, Mountain View, was in charge. Internment will be in Fulton, Mo.
