News-Info-Alerts

Re: Nasiriyah Families Left In Dark After Report Issued

From: POW-MIA InterNetwork

Date: July 12, 2003

"Iraq: The Aftermath
Soldier's wife questions decisions that led to husband's death

JEFF LATZKE Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The wife of an Army soldier killed in Iraq says a recent Army report fails to explain why her husband's unit was left unprotected, hours behind other units with few means to defend themselves prior to a deadly ambush.

Sgt. Donald Walters was among 11 killed and seven captured in the attack shortly after dawn on March 23. His wife, Stacie Walters, of Kansas City, said in an interview Friday that a report hand-delivered last week by Army officials does not give the rationale for a series of decisions that put the unit in danger and only speculates about the circumstances of her husband's death.

Donald Walters was a cook with the 507th Maintenance Company, which supplied troops with water, food and supplies and fixed vehicles that had mechanical failures. The report suggests Walters might have been left alone to fight against hostile Iraqi troops, but states "the circumstances of his death cannot be conclusively determined by available information."

"Nobody seems to know what actually happened to him," Stacie Walters said.

According to the report, Walters' truck became disabled after a series of wrong turns caused the unit to make its second U-turn along Highway 16 in Iraq. While Pvt. Brandon Sloan, the other soldier in Walters' truck, was picked up by another vehicle, the report said, "It is unclear whether Sgt. Walters was picked up by others in the convoy or remained in the area of the disabled tractor-trailer.

"There is some information to suggest that a U.S. soldier that could have been Walters fought his way south of Highway 16 towards a canal and was killed in action. Sgt. Walters was in fact killed at some point during this portion of the attack."

Stacie Walters said it seemed strange that Sloan was picked up, but not her husband.

"What I want to know is: Why didn't anybody stop to help him? Somebody had to have been out there," she said.

Stacie Walters and her parents, Cecil and Evelyn Stout, said the commanders responsible for making the 507th vulnerable to attack should step forward with explanations.

"If you're going to play Follow the Leader in the desert," Evelyn Stout said, "then you better make sure you know what you're doing."

The report states that further details about U.S. casualties and assessment of "decisions made and actions taken" would be reserved for a chain-of-command "lessons learned" review.

Army spokesman Lt. Col. Rudy Burwell said he did not know the timeframe for such a report.

"In the fog of war and the pace of war, mishaps happen," Burwell said. "The army is not looking to try to assign blame, but we will be looking to learn lessons to avoid calamities in the future."

Burwell said further investigations would provide more details "in due time."

"We want to give as much to the family as we can," Burwell said. "They deserve that."

Burwell said he could not respond to Walter's claims, leaving any response to the upcoming "lessons learned" report. Burwell said he could not speculate about the findings of the report nor comment on whether the positioning and protection of the 507th's was out of the ordinary.

Donald Walters fought in Operation Desert Storm before retiring from the Army in 1992. He served in an Army Reserve unit in Independence from May 1996 until July 2002. Walters re-enlisted last year with the 507th to give his family greater stability. Stacie Walters has been living with her parents since her husband left for Iraq.

Walters and her parents said they still support U.S. troops. Outside their home, a yellow ribbon is tied around an aging tree, with a black POW-MIA flag sticking out of the ribbon. In front of the tree, a sign showing an American flag and proclaiming "Support Our Troops" stands. Family vehicles have bumper stickers with messages of support for the military.

Walters, with tears in her eyes, said the Army had provided her an autopsy report, which showed that her husband had been stabbed twice in the stomach and shot in the leg and twice in the back. The bullets in the back killed Donald Walters, both piercing his heart.

Although she wasn't old enough to truly understand, Walters' 13-month-old daughter, Amber, moaned and cried as her mother told what she knew about her father's death. Walters said she hoped more information would come that, in time, she could tell Amber.

"I know that my husband died as a hero," Walters said. "I would like to think that he fought to the end. I will always keep that in mind and I will always hold that and I will tell her that when she's old enough to understand everything.""