William-043

"Will spun around. The Hunter shot him. Will's energy shield vanished, and the front of his MJOLNIR armour melted. He took a step toward the beast, and collapsed."

- William-043's Death

Petty Officer Second Class William-043 was a Spartan-II supersoldier. He was one of the few Spartans to survive the Battle of Reach, but he was subsequently killed on Onyx by a Hunter pair, after valiantly engaging them in hand-to-hand combat. Because the Spartan-IIs' numbers had been thinned by the war, it seems that he developed a close working relationship with Fredric-104. Though, because of ONI's continuing plan to hide all KIA Spartans as MIA, so the legend that Spartans never die is continued with the "MIA" of Will-043.

Personality and Description
Will was resolved to be a very reserved, but an extremely determined individual. John-117 once noted "He never failed to complete his missions." When he was younger, he was the one who always had the jokes and riddles that would keep the spirits of the Spartans high. Over the years, his lifetime of combat had hardened him, as it had all of the Spartans. Within Will, John thought, something special had been lost. He preferred his shortened name, "Will" over "William", which he thought of as too formal. He seems to have a talent for using the Rocket Launcher. He could shoot down a moving Banshee at long range. He also shows exceptional hand-to-hand combat skills. Before his death, he was able to grapple with and slay a Hunter even though he was completely unarmed. Despite this, the grapple cost him his life, as he was struck at point-blank range by the other Hunter's Assault Cannon. Will is sometimes considered as one of the most courageous Spartans.

Early Childhood
William-043 was conscripted into the SPARTAN-II program in 2517, at age six, when Dr. Catherine Halsey singled him out as a physically and intellectually superior child. He was then replaced with a Flash Clone and taken to Reach, where he was trained by Deja and Chief Petty Officer Mendez along with the rest of the Spartan Children. He was part of the missions to the Military Reservation 01478-B, Military Wilderness Training Preserve, and several missions in the Highland Mountains.

Reach
Will was never mentioned by name until the Battle of Reach. He was assigned as Red-Twelve, part of Fred's team. As the group descended to the surface of Reach, their Pelican, Bravo 001, was shot down. The Spartans were forced to jump from the crashing Pelican. William suffered injuries in the drop, including a cracked tibia and some internal bleeding. These injuries severely hampered his fighting abilities, but medically, these injuries were nothing, as he was a Spartan. Some biofoam was all that he needed to mend these injuries.

Nevertheless, he was then assigned to lead team "Delta" by Fred. His team consisted of five other Spartans as well as the remains of Charlie Company. They were to secure the fallback position for the Spartans; CASTLE Base. Though separated from the Charlie Company Marines and three of the Spartans, Will, Vinh-030, and Isaac-039 managed to make it to the entrance of the facility. They were unable to enter it until Fred and Kelly-087 met up with them and whispered Oly Oly Oxen Free into the speaker of the facility. It turned out that Dr. Halsey was in the facility, and she let them in.

Seeing that William's injuries were the least severe, she sent him and Fred on a supply run in the base, and they picked up the new Magnums and Battle Rifles in the facility. The five Spartans and Dr. Halsey were then forced to retreat to the mining caves beneath the base after Dr. Halsey activated Operation: WHITE GLOVE. They were trapped there for several days. While waiting for the Covenant to attack, William received a better tracking system on his HUD, which improved his accuracy at nearly 1,000 meters. Then a Covenant strike on the base forced them deeper into the mountain until they discovered the Forerunner Crystal artifact. It sent a spike of radiation that allowed the Covenant to triangulate their position, and a Gravity Lift soon appeared, sending Elites and Jackals pouring into the caves. The five Spartans and Dr. Halsey attempted to escape into another tunnel, but as they ran into a nearby cavern, Vinh and Isaac disappeared, presumably KIA. The two did manage to drop Satchel Charges and collapse the entrance, which protected Will, Fred, Kelly, and Dr. Halsey for several hours until they were rescued by Vice Admiral Danforth Whitcomb and John. Will was then brought aboard a Spirit and taken to the captured Ascendant Justice, under control of Cortana.

OPERATION: FIRST STRIKE
Will was then designated as Blue-Five for the Spartans' extra vehicular mission to repair the damaged Plasma Conduit while the ship was in an anomalous Slipspace bubble. He managed to survive, braving the saboteur Elites as well as dangerous rogue Plasma Bolts of the bubble.

Will was then a part of Operation: FIRST STRIKE. He went with John and Fred to the Unyielding Hierophant where he followed them into the core of the ship and helped detonate the Fusion reactors. They then returned to Earth aboard the Gettysburg.

Onyx
In Ghosts of Onyx, Will aids Fred-104 and Linda-058 in defending Earth shortly after In Amber Clad's disappearance for nearly two weeks. It wasn't until after Lord Hood's transmission to Fred-104 that the three remaining members of Blue Team were sent to Sentinel-besieged Onyx at Dr. Halsey's request. While getting to the core of Onyx, the surviving humans get into a fierce firefight with the Covenant. Will's final act was to leap forward and engage two Hunters without a weapon, to distract them so Kelly could recover from a concussive blast, which had also killed Holly. He killed a Hunter by ripping the worms or "eels" that compose it out of its armour. None of the other Covenant shot at him because they had never seen anybody take on a Hunter in hand to hand combat before, let alone two at once. Then its Bond Brother shot him with it's Assault Cannon. He took a single step towards the Hunter after the blast melted the front of his MJOLNIR armour, and then collapsed and died. Will is the first Spartan and Human, besides John 117, to fight a Hunter pair without a weapon, and succeeded in killing one as a result.

Trivia

 * Will's tag number is a 7 reference. 4+3=7.