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SGT Ward Gunard "Pop" Walter |
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The Military Assistance Command Vietnam / Army Of The Republic Of Vietnam (MACV / ARVN) outpost at Phuoc Cang on Highway QL-15 was coming under heavy enemy fire and the combined (A, B, and C company) ambush team was tasked with attempting to take the pressure off by flanking the Viet Cong positions. They were working their way south from the Finger of Land along Highway QL-15 several hundred yards or so away from the outpost. For some time they had been able to see headlights approaching north from the direction of Bear Cat. The ambush team hunkered down alongside the roadway berm preparing to move to their left and engage the VC who had no idea they were there. They waited for the vehicle to pass so its headlights would not expose their position. The vehicle turned out to be a gun jeep from the 9th Infantry Division. The men in the jeep must have spotted movement because they opened fire as they passed by the ambush teams location, then continued down the highway towards Long Binh Post. Three rounds from the jeep machine gun passed through the M-16 magazines that were hung in bandoleers across SGT Walter's chest. SGT Walter age 50, was transported to the 24th Evacuation Hospital but died from the wounds before he arrived. SGT Walter had thirty days in country when he died. |
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SGT Walter was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star Medal for Valor and the Purple Heart Medal. . Sometime after his death the Battalion movie theater on Long Binh Post was named the SGT "Pop" Walter Memorial Theater. |
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Date and contributor of photograph unknown.
Photograph taken in early November 1967 Courtesy of SP/4 Richard G. Silver C Company 1967-1968.