THACKERSON, WALTER ANTHONY

Name: Walter Anthony Thackerson
Rank/Branch: E3/US Army
Unit: Company A, 2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry, 2nd Brigade, 25th Infantry
Division
Date of Birth: 06 September 1944 (Anniston AL)
Home City of Record: Talladega AL
Date of Loss: 21 May 1966
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 110743N 1062937E (XT631302)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Refno: 0345
Other Personnel in Incident: (none missing)

Source: Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more
of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources,
correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. Updated
by the P.O.W. NETWORK 1998.

REMARKS:

SYNOPSIS: PFC Walter A. Thackerson was a member of a platoon from Company A,
2nd Battalion, 14th Infantry which was on a search and destroy mission in
Binh Duong Province, South Vietnam on May 21, 1966. When the unit came under
heavy sniper fire, the men were forced to withdraw.

After regrouping, it was discovered that Thackerson was missing. He was last
seen when the unit came under fire. The unit reformed and returned to the
ambush site in an attempt to locate him. He was seen at this time, but when
searchers tried to retrieve him, enemy fire kept them back. Witnesses stated
that they believed he was dead because of the number of times he had been
hit by enemy fire. After 45 minutes of extremely accurate and heavy enemy
fire, the searchers had to evacuate the area without recovering the remains.

Walter Thackerson is listed among the missing because his remains were never
recovered. Although he was shot down near heavy concentrations of enemy
troops, the Vietnamese have consistently denied any knowledge of his fate.
The communist government of Vietnam has been uncooperative in releasing
remains they hold or in allowing access to known loss sites.

Tragically, evidence mounts that many Americans are still alive in Southeast
Asia, still prisoners from a war many have long forgotten. It is a matter of
pride in the armed forces that one's comrades are never left behind. One can
imagine Thackerson, had he survived, being willing to go on one more patrol
for those heroes we left behind.