Name: Walter Stephen Simpson
Rank/Branch: E6/US Army
Unit: K Troop, 3rd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment
Date of Birth: 21 August 1941
Home City of Record: Trenton NJ
Date of Loss: 21 May 1967
Country of Loss: South Vietnam
Loss Coordinates: 105416N 1072032E (YT560063)
Status (in 1973): Killed/Body Not Recovered
Category: 2
Aircraft/Vehicle/Ground: Ground
Other Personnel in Incident:
(none missing)
Source:
Compiled by Homecoming II Project 01 September 1990 from one or more of
the following: raw data from U.S. Government agency sources, correspondence with
POW/MIA families, published sources, interviews.
REMARKS:
SYNOPSIS:
SSGT Walter S. Simpson was the track commander of K Troop, 3rd
Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment. He was on a convoy escort mission when
his unit was ambushed by Viet Cong forces about 10 miles southeast of Xuan Loc
in Khanh Province, South Vietnam.
Simpson's vehicle was at the rear of the column when it came under enemy fire. It sustained several hits from recoilless rifles and was totally destroyed and completely gutted by fire.
A thorough search of the ambush area was made on May 21 and May 22, but although three other remains were recovered from the track vehicle, Simpson was never found. He was listed Killed in Action/Body Not Recovered.
Walter S. Simpson is listed among the missing because his remains were never found to send home to the country he served. He died a tragically ironic death in the midst of war. But, for his family, the case seems clear that he died on that day. The fact that they have no body to bury with honor is not of great significance.
For other who are missing, however, the evidence leads not to death, but to survival. Since the war ended, nearly 10,000 reports received relating to Americans still held captive in Indochina have convinced experts that hundreds of men are still alive, waiting for their country to rescue them. The notion that Americans are dying without hope in the hands of a long-ago enemy belies the idea that we left Vietnam with honor. It also signals that tens of thousands of lost lives were a frivolous waste of our best men
