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Vietnam Silver Star recipient ID’d

CRANSTON, R.I. — The remains of a Silver Star recipient missing since the Vietnam War have been identified and will be returned to Rhode Island, the state National Guard announced Tuesday.

Sgt. 1st Class Lewis C. Walton of the Army Special Forces disappeared after being sent on a reconnaissance patrol in South Vietnam in 1971. His unit’s mission was to report on enemy activity in an area crowded with North Vietnamese soldiers.

Recovery crews in 1993 and 1999 searched an area where Walton and his team were last reported seen, but they found only military artifacts. Bones discovered during a 2004 search were matched to Walton through a DNA sample taken from his sister.

A St. Christopher’s medal that Walton carried was also found near his remains.

Walton was married with a son and a daughter. His widow, Virginia Flynn Walton-Burkhardt, is remarried and lives out of state, said Lt. Col. Denis Riel, a spokesman for the National Guard.

His son, also named Lewis Walton, is a member of the Rhode Island Army National Guard and was escorting his father’s remains from Rhode Island to Hawaii, where the identification was made last fall, Riel said.

“Without having great memories of his dad because he was so young when he died, the son carries on his father’s legacy,” Riel said. “That in and of itself speaks loads to what the children think of their father.”

A funeral service was scheduled for Saturday at St. Anthony’s Roman Catholic Church in Providence. He will be buried in the Rhode Island Veterans Cemetery in Exeter.

Besides the Silver Star, Walton was awarded the Bronze Star, the Air Medal and the Purple Heart. He was also a veteran of the Korean War.

Walton was initially classified as missing in action, but a military review board later amended his status to killed in action, the National Guard said.