On 2005-06-29 09:42:13 -0400, "stol" said:

It is a very sad week here in Jackson Hole. I


ChuckSlusarczyk wrote:

Just for the record and to stop speculation it was a CGS Hawk Arrow II. When I
sold the kit to John I had no idea who he was .Our dealer in W.VA helped him
build it and it was my impression he was going to N number it.


None of us knew who he was, he acted like any number of guys I've met who
enjoyed to fly and talk airplanes.

All we can do at this time is to pray for him and his family .The guy I knew
wasn't a rich and famous guy he was one of us. Rest in peace

Ben, Chuck and guys --

I don't read or post here much these days, too busy. But I have a few
things to say about John Walton.

John Walton was a very, very humble guy, who didn't need to be humble.
A few data points on his character, cause he's kind of a Rashomon guy
where different people saw different things. I have been gathering
information here and there and some of it is eye opening.

While he was at college, he took some time off. He joined the Army and
went to Vietnam -- everybody was talking about it, and nobody actually
knew a damned thing, and he thought he'd go see for himself.

He went to the most selective outfit in the Army, Special Forces, and
took it toughest course, 91B2S medic. He used to say that if he was
going to do something, he wanted to be the best. THEN he volunteered
for Vietnam. THEN he volunteered for SOG. He ran recon with, among
others, Spike Team Louisana. In one terrible fight he was awarded the
Silver Star, and spent the rest of his life denying he was worthy of
it, or anything special. "Everybody was doing the same things." (That's
NOT what the other guys from his team say). He also had the Purple
Heart (almost everyone in SOG got this). Everyone did get the
Presidential Unit Citation, a couple years ago when the missions were
all declassified. For those of you who don't know medals, the Silver
Star is the third-highest valour award, the PUC is equivalent to
everyone in the unit getting the #2 award (Distinguished Service or
Navy Cross), and the Purple Heart is given for combat wounds.

During stand-downs, he told his friends he'd get a motorbike and ride
it throughout the USA, and he'd get his pilot's license, after the war
(he did).

He was a general, life member of the Special Operations Association,
probably the most selective veterans group in the USA, maybe the world.
General Membership is restricted to people who conducted combat,
espionage or sabotage missions behind enemy lines. At an SOA meeting
("SOAR") a couple years back he said he would love to be just a medic
on a team again, and the guys believed him. (Other SOA members have
made millions, died poor, and gone to jail). He even joined the
organisation pretty late -- he didn't think he was special. (the other
guys in the organization disagree, and at the time he was in Vietnam
nobody had ever heard of John's father).

He flew his Citation to North Dakota one year before SOAR. He picked up
a guy named Thinh Dinh, who was a Colonel in the South Vietnamese Air
Force. Dinh had come in under hellacious fire to extract John and his
wounded teammates. He was flying an H-34D from the 219th Sqn.
"Kingbees" which was the RVNAF's special ops unit. To put THAT In
perspective, the Marines who always got the crappy hand-me-down gear in
those days had scrapped their H-34s years before. It was powered by a
radial and unreliable and vulnerable even as helicopters go.

John thought that Dinh was a hero, not he.He was half right.

After the war, Sam Walton wanted John to join the business. He tried it
as corporate pilot for a while -- the only job he would take. He didn't
like it and quit to fly as a cropduster for about five years. Then he
got into the boat business, building high-tech trimarans.

Later, his father would entice him back onto the Walmart board, and he
headed up a Walton philanthropic foundation. He was trying to give away
20% of the Walton fortune, which is substantial, in a few years. The
foundation mostly gives money so that poor kids can go to better
schools, and the amounts it gives are staggering.

Any speculation on the cause of the mishap is dreadfully uninformed and
premature. Like many, I have formed an opinion based on news reports,
an opinion that will almost certainly be thrown out or revised as more
credible information is released. We know he was a very skilled pilot
and he was flying a very well established, safe type. At this stage of
the game nothing can be ruled out but I have encountered some really
dumb-ass comments.

John may not have built a plane before (I don't know) but he had built
many boats.

My condolences to all of you who knew John in your different ways.
Right about now, he's trying to decline seating at the head of the
table in Valhalla.

He died doing something we all love. Let me steal a couple of lines
from Laurence Binyon:

He shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old
Age shall not weary him, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember him.

The one good thing that comes of this is that we can talk about his
heroism, his greatness, his human qualities, without him telling us to
knock it off.

cheers

-=K=-

Rule #1: Don't hit anything big.