Re: Two Wars... Two Mysteries

Date: March 18, 2004

"Two wars in Iraq, two men from Northland ruled dead in high-profile incidents lead to two nationally disturbing... Gulf War mysteries

By: Jack "Miles" Ventimiglia, Editor

AFTER FIGHTING in Gulf War I, Sgt. Don Walters posed with a Kuwaiti flag. Ten years later, he returned to the Middle East for Gulf War II and died in combat at An Nasiriya, Iraq.
Two President Bushes, two Gulf wars, two Northlanders proclaimed dead in internationally reported incidents and each man leaving a nationally significant mystery...

Navy Lt. Cmdr. Michael "Scott" Speicher, who attended Winnetonka High School, became the first man proclaimed dead during Gulf War I on Jan. 17, 1991.

Army Sgt. Donald Walters, Kansas City-North, died fighting March 23, 2003, in the An Nasiriyah incident during Gulf War II.

The mystery of Speicher's fate haunts friends and family. Some still hope he remains alive in Iraq, including boyhood pal Jeff Paussa.

What fuels the mystery is not merely that Speicher's body has not been found, but the compelling evidence that he parachuted safely before his F/A-18 Hornet crashed into the desert floor.

In Tikrit, a city in northern Iraq, a report from Camp Speicher states: "F/A-18 pilot Michael "Scott" Speicher ... was originally considered 'killed in action, body not recovered.' Iraqi authorities provided a small amount of human remains they claimed to be those of Speicher. U.S. experts determined this to be a lie. Iraq later claimed that his body was devoured by animals and no remains were found. At first, it was believed that Speicher had been killed in action. But later, evidence found at the crash site and reports from Iraqi defectors and foreign intelligence services indicated that Speicher had survived the crash and was a prisoner of war in Iraq."

At the urging of Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., the Pentagon took the unprecedented step of raising Speicher's status from killed in action to missing/captured. The military also promoted Speicher in absentia from lieutenant commander to captain.

Despite the subsequent invasion of Iraq in Gulf War II, Saddam Hussein's capture and the offer of a $1 million reward for information leading to finding Speicher, his fate remains unknown, said Roberts' Washington spokeswoman, Molly Mueller, Friday.

"They're still doing investigating daily, but there have been no new reports," Mueller said.

Paussa said Friday that Speicher's friends will not give the search.

"It's like having a child kidnapped and you never hear any evidence of what happened to that child. You never give up hope," he said. "How could you not hope that someday he walks through the door?"

At a Speicher support group meeting Jan. 17 in Washington, Paussa said finding Speicher had become so vital that the group agreed to take out advertisements with age-progressed photos in Iraqi newspapers and to offer a reward for help in finding Speicher.

"The group's attitude has sort of changed toward the government so that, if they cannot show us what they're doing, we'll do it ourselves," Paussa said.

Finding Speicher dead or alive would mean closure for his friends and family, something also sought by Sgt. Donald Walters' family. The mystery is not whether Walters died, but the circumstances, said his widow, Stacie Walters, 28, Kansas City-North.

A Gulf War I veteran, Donald, met Stacie by chance when he stopped into her workplace on North Oak to ask for directions to Barry Road. He came back a few days later and asked for a date, Stacie said Friday, and the budding relationship resulted in marriage and the birth of their daughter, Amber, now 21 months.

"He loved helping people. If he would see somebody stuck on the side of the road with car problems, he would pull over and help. He would be there for you," Stacie said. "Don loved to cook. He came up with his own concoctions, and sometimes I was afraid, but it was OK. He loved spaghetti, so we had a lot."

Don also enjoyed Smithville Lake.

"He loved to go fishing. If he was close to a waterhole somewhere, he had a line in before I could get out of the car," Stacie said.

Don did not get much time with Amber, but made the most of their moments before being sent to fight in Gulf War II, Stacie said.

"He sang her a little lullaby and he'd play with her," she said. "We were planning to buy her her first fishing pole when he came home."

Don served in the 507th Maintenance Company with a convoy of trucks at An Nasiriyah, a city known to few Americans until the events of March 23, 2003. At that time, Iraqi soldiers attacked Don, Pvt. Jessica Lynch and others in the company. The military continues to review the incident, but an executive summary states the convoy missed a turn in the city, then turned to head back toward the correct road when small arms fire erupted. The tractor-trailer Don rode in with driver Pvt. Brandon Sloan became disabled. Another vehicle made a "combat pick-up" of Sloan, but what happened to Don is murky.

"Basically, he's a 'fog of war.' He just disappeared," Stacie said. "And when they found all the bodies, Don's body was the only one that had both shot and stab wounds," indicating hand-to-hand combat.

Shortly after the incident, military and media reports stated Lynch fired at advancing Iraqis until being overcome and captured. But Lynch herself has helped debunk those reports and has speculated Don is the one who fought so fiercely at An Nasiriyah.

"There is some information to suggest a U.S. soldier, that could have been Walters, fought his way south of Highway 16 towards a canal and was killed in action," the military's draft report states. "Sgt. Walters was in fact killed at some point during this portion of the attack. The circumstances of his death cannot be conclusively determined by available information."

Stacie said she is convinced Don is the person who fell in combat.

"He was the only one out there," Stacie said. "When you read the debriefing, everyone is accounted for, except for him. ...

"He was the only one left on the ground when the attack started and he was the first one to be killed."

The first indication that Don had been killed came to Stacie via CNN, and within a few hours a military chaplain appeared at the door, said Stacie's father, Cecil Stout, Kansas City-North.

"It all happened so quickly. No more than the war got started than we heard that the 507th had been ambushed," Stout said Friday.

Various reports suggest forward units left the maintenance convoy without enough defensive firepower, he said.

"They were 12 hours behind the rest of the convoy," his wife, Evelyn Stout, said.

Cecil said, "They were completely out of communication range."

Stacie said she hopes people learn Don fought to his last breath to save himself and other convoy members.

"We'd like to see the truth come out about Don," Stacie said. "He was the unnamed soldier who was out there standing alone, fighting alone. ... Maybe after this entire ordeal in Iraq is over they might come out and say that it was him. I'm hoping.

"It would bring us closure."

Memorial honors fallen soldier

A ceremony at Smithville Lake on Tuesday will mark the first anniversary of the ambush at An Nasiriya, Iraq, which ended the life of Sgt. Donald Walters, 33, Kansas City-North.

The ambush claimed the lives of 11 Americans and catapulted Pvt. Jessica Lynch into the world spotlight following her rescue.

Based on evidence arising after the attack, Walters is now believed to be the man who died fighting in the attack. Early reports had suggested Lynch had been the one exchanging gunfire with the Iraqis, but when able to talk, Lynch had no such recollection.

A tree-planting in Walters' honor will occur at 2 p.m. March 23 near the lake shelter off Northwest 180th Street, Smithville.

The ceremony will be hosted by the American Legion's third and fifth districts out of Jackson and Clay counties.

©Sun-News of the Northland 2004"