Bio, Walton, Lewis C.

Name: Lewis Clark Walton Rank/Branch: E6/US Army Special Forces Unit: Task Force 1, Advisory Element (assigned to Support Headquarters, USARV) Date of Birth: 13 May 1934 (Providence RI) Home City of Record: Cranston RI Date of Loss: 10 May 1971 Country of Loss: South Vietnam Loss Coordinates: 155250N 1073430E Status (in 1973): Missing In Action Category: 2 Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground Refno: 1745

Source: Compiled 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 2007.

SYNOPSIS: James Luttrell, Lewis Walton and Klaus Bingham were members of a long-range reconnaissance (LRRP) team "Asp" which was inserted into western Quang Nam Province 12 miles from Laos on May 3, 1971.

On May 5, two pilots flying in the area reported seeing a mirror and a panel signal 50 meters west of the LZ for about 15 minutes. The area was searched again for about 3 hours, and the FAC attempted to raise the team on radio. At 1404 hours on May 5, the FAC saw two people wearing dark green fatigues locating panel signals. Helicopters were launched at 1500 hours that day with a rescue team, but could not be inserted because of bad weather. The FAC stayed on station until 1700 hours that day, but no communication was ever established with the team.

On May 7, hostile fire in the area prevented the insertion of a rescue team. Poor weather prevented the insertion of a search team until May 14. The team was extracted the same day, without ever having heard or seen the patrol.

Luttrell, Walton and Bingham disappeared. The three were classified Missing In Action. They are among nearly 2400 Americans who are still missing from the Vietnam war. Experts now believe that hundreds of these men are still alive.

Lewis Walton was a seasoned soldier when he disappeared. He was trained for survival under adverse circumstances. Under the circumstances of his disappearance, the U.S. Army believes the enemy may know what happened to him. He could be alive.

In our haste to leave Southeast Asia, we abandoned 2400 of our best. Surprisingly, in 1988, overtures by many U.S. government officials hint at normalization of relations with Vietnam, yet no agreements have been reached which would free those Americans still held in Southeast Asia. In our haste to return to Indochina will we again abandon our men?

NOTE: Catherine M. Walton, the mother of Lewis, passed away in the privacy of her own home on the morning of November 7, 1997 at the age of 87. She never knew the fate of her son. Perhaps she does now.

U.S. PERSONNEL MISSING FROM THE VIETNAM WAR: There are now 1,789 US personnel listed as missing and unaccounted for by the Department of Defense. Recently, the identifications of two Americans previously missing/unaccounted for from the Vietnam War were announced:

The League extends best wishes to the families and friends of both men and hopes that these final answers bring long-awaited peace of mind. The accounting for these Americans brings to 794 the number of US personnel accounted for since the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. Over 90% of the 1,789 still listed as missing were lost in Vietnam or in areas of Laos and Cambodia under Vietnamese wartime control.

A simple bracelet is the reminder this week of the wearying, enduring nature of all wars and the difficult truth that their endings never arrive on the same date for everyone involved.

Welcome home to Sgt. 1st Class Lewis C. Walton, U.S. Army, who went missing May 5, 1971 in South Vietnam.

His remains are being returned to Rhode Island. A North Attleboro man, who was a college freshman when Walton was lost, will be among those waiting.

Ric Golembewski, who never knew Walton, nonetheless has been wearing a metal bracelet for 20 years with the name of the missing soldier etched upon it.

He is one of hundreds of people who keep vigils this way, with a bracelet in honor of someone lost or held as a prisoner of war.

The bittersweet tradition emerged from a long-ago student action organization, VIVA (Voices In Vital America), to keep alive the plight of American prisoners in captivity in Southeast Asia. Official distribution of the first bracelets, which are privately funded, was on Veterans Day of 1970. Requests for the item came pouring in.

Today, 1,787 Americans are still missing and unaccounted for from the Vietnam War, according to the National League of Families of POWs & MIAs.

The league seeks the return of all U.S. prisoners, the fullest possible accounting for those still missing and repatriation of all recoverable remains.

Some days it must seem that all hope is gone. Then the news arrives. Another soldier is headed back to family.

The return of the remains of Sgt. Walton brings one more very personal resolution to a war that officially ended long ago but, for many surviving loved ones with questions unanswered, has never really ended at all. History books will proclaim that the last American troops left the country on April 30, 1975.

This is only in part factual. Not all of them left. Not all of them could leave.

This year, Sept. 21, 2007 will be proclaimed by President George Bush as National POW/MIA Recognition Day, a time to remember and honor those lost to the cruelties and vagaries of all wars, even as the Iraq War will almost certainly be continuing to rage.

A simple metal bracelet worn for two decades by a North Attleboro man in honor of a soldier he never met is another reminder to all of us that, no matter what we think of war, we need to keep the troops inscribed on our hearts if not on a circle of metal.