Remains Recovered
WALTON, LEWIS CLARK
Remains Recovered
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
Other Personnel In Incident: Klaus Bingham; James Luttrell (both missing)
REMARKS:
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 2020.
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.
The Asp team was inserted without ground fire or radio transmission. On May
4, the area was searched by Forward Air Controllers (FAC) who neither saw
nor heard anything from the team.
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 6, weather again prohibited search attempts.
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.
=====================
10/2004
During the General Membership Meeting at the SOA Reunion, SOAR XXVIII, Mr
Dickie Hites, Special Advisor, to the CG of JPAC, Hawaii, presented a brief
update on his trip to SE Asia.
He mentioned the remains of Klaus Bigham, Jim Lutrell, and Lewis Walton of
RT ASP from CCN, lost on 10 May 1971 had been found.
===================================================
POW/MIA Update: January 25, 2007
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:
Major Benjamin F. Danielson, USAF, USA, MN, MIA 12/5/69, Laos, RR 11/12/03,
ID 8/6/06
Sergeant First Class Lewis C. Walton, RI, MIA 5/10/71, SVN, RR 10/19/04, ID
10/23/06
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.
=====================================================
The Sun Chronicle
TUESDAY MAY 15, 2007 Last modified: Friday, May 4, 2007 10:32 PM EDTEditorial: After long vigil, a soldier comes home
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.....
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02/2020
https://dpaa.secure.force.com/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000000qFIGMEA4
On December 19, 2006, the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC,
now DPAA) identified the remains of Sergeant First Class Lewis
Clark Walton, missing from the Vietnam War.
Sergeant First Class Walton entered the U.S. Army from Rhode
Island and served with Task Force 1, Advisory Element, and was
assigned to Support Headquarters, USARV. On May 3, 1971, he was
part of a reconnaissance patrol inserted into a remote area of
Quang Nam-Da Nang Province, South Vietnam. Following its
insertion into the target area, the patrol was attacked by enemy
forces and SFC Walton was killed in action. His remains were not
recovered at the time. Between 1992 and 1999, joint
U.S./Vietnamese teams traveled to the area and investigated the
incident, which led to the recovery of human remains from
associated burial sites between 2004 and 2006. U.S. analysts
were able to identify SFC Walton from these remains.
Sergeant First Class Walton is memorialized on Courts of the
Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific.
If you are a family member of this serviceman, you may contact your casualty office representative to learn more about your service member.