Name: Donald Ralph Walters
Branch/Rank: Army/Sgt
Unit: 507th Maintenance Company, Fort Bliss, TX
Date of Birth/Age: /33 at capture
Home City of Record: Salem, OR
Date of Loss: March 23, 2003
Country of Loss: Iraq
Original Status: DUSTWUN to KIA
March 2004 Status: POW, Homicide - died in captivity
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground

Killed in action:
Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, 22, of Roswell, GA; Pfc. Howard Johnson II, 21, of Mobile, Ala.

Missing in action (later declared KIA):
Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38, of Cleveland, Ohio; Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18, of El Paso; Spc. James M. Kiehl, 22, of Des Moines, Iowa; Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35, of El Paso; Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23, of Tuba City, Ariz.; Pvt. Brandon Ulysses Sloan, 19, of Bedford, Ohio; and Sgt. Donald Ralph Walters, 33, of Salem, Ore.  

Prisoners of war:
Spc. Edgar Adan Hernandez, 21, of Mission, Texas; Spc. Joseph Neal Hudson, 23, of Alamogordo, N.M.; Spc. Shoshana Nyree Johnson, 30, of El Paso; Pfc. Patrick Wayne Miller, 23, of Walter, Kan.; and Sgt. James Joseph Riley, 31, of Pennsauken, N.J.

Four more members of the unit were wounded, but managed to hold off or evade enemy forces until a Marine unit arrived to help evacuate them.

Source: Compiled by P.O.W. NETWORK from one or more of the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews. May 2004.

Synopsis: A group of about 20 members of the 507th was ambushed near An Nasiriyah, Iraq on the fourth day of battle by civilian-clothed Iraqi forces. The soldiers were supplying the 3rd Infantry Division in its drive to Baghdad in central Iraq when they took a wrong turn. Broadcast pictures showed the convoy with a vehicle that appeared to have its tires shot out, another was overturned. Six vehicles were destroyed according to media reports.

The 507th, which deployed with the 11th Air Defense Artillery Brigade, is not considered a combat unit, Defense Department officials said. Made up mostly of mechanics, the 507th keeps the diesel tanker trucks rolling, fixes generators and keeps the mechanical parts in good shape. Lynch was a supply clerk.

Some members of the 507th were shown on Iraqi television as prisoners being questioned.

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Military Says Oregon Guardsman Was Executed
April 2003

  <http://www.katu.com/news/images/story2004/040316donald_walters.jpg>

By Shannon L. Cheesman

Salem, Ore. - After a long fight to get recognition for their son's actions in Iraq, the family of Sgt. Donald Walters has now learned some shocking news from the military - that their son was taken as a prisoner of war and later shot in the back.

Major Arnold Strong with the Oregon National Guard made the announcement this afternoon, saying a Defense Department representative visited with the Walters earlier this week to tell them the news.

Walters' wife was also notified this week.

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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/nation/10407053.htm 12/14/04

.....Donald Walters was killed on March 23, 2003, four days after the first air strikes on Baghdad. Besides his wife, he left behind a daughter, now 2½, and two older daughters from his first marriage......
Evidence indicated that after running out of ammunition, Walters, a cook, was captured by Iraqi fighters, possibly tortured, then executed.....