Walters, Donovan Keith
Air Force Captain

Donovan Keith Walters, age 28, from Lebanon, Nebraska, Red Willow county.

Service era: Vietnam

Date of death: Thursday, December 21, 1972
Death details: On April 18, 1989, the Central Identification Laboratory-Hawaii (CILHI, now DPAA) identified the remains of Captain Donovan Keith Walters, missing from the Vietnam War.

Captain Walters entered the U.S. Air Force from Nebraska and was a member of the 325th Bombardment Squadron. On December 21, 1972, he copiloted a B-52G Stratofortress (tail number 58-0198, call sign “Olive 01”) that took off from Guam on a bombing mission over North Vietnam. During the flight, “Olive 01” was hit by an enemy surface-to-air missile that caused it to crash and explode in Ha Tay Province. Capt Walters ejected from the aircraft prior to its crash, but did not survive the incident. The enemy presence in the area prevented search efforts on the ground and Capt Walters’ remains were not recovered at the time. In 1988, the Vietnamese government repatriated human remains that U.S. analysts identified as those of Capt Walters.

Source: National Archives, Associated Press, Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency