William Forrester was an illegitimate child of a high official, possibly from Rome. Whoever his biological father was, his mother, a retarded daughter of a widowed oyster farmer, gave him up for adoption. The story has it that all the adaptable children were placed in a large horizontally positioned wheel, which was then spun around slowly. The potential parents were gathered around the wheel and could thus have a good look at their potential children. When they saw a child that appealed to them the wheel was stopped and the child handed over for inspection. After paying the appropriate amount of money and filling out some forms, the child could be taken home.
William Forrester didn’t know that he had been adopted until he was 20 years of age.
One day he decided that he wanted to do his patriotic duty in Vietnam and went over to the enlisting office. Here they could not find his name in any register and he was sent back home. He mentioned the incident to his mother who subsequently told him about his adoption. Furthermore she suggested him to have the army officers look for him under the name Camarella, Guilliano. This was the name the state had given him before he was adopted.
He was shipped to Vietnam where he was reported as ‘Missing in Action’ during his 3rd tour.