Walton wasn't sittin' around on his rich thumbs, he was out there living his life to the fullest. God bless him.
Posted on 06/28/2005 5:13:10 PM PDT by Ronzo
As one of the richest men in the world, John Walton could have spent his entire life traveling around the globe on luxury jets. But the heir to the Wal-Mart fortune loved to tool around Wyoming in a cheap airplane built from a kit.
Walton died Monday at the age of 58 when the homemade experimental plane he was piloting crashed near the Jackson airport in Grand Teton National Park.
---snip---
Walton served in Vietnam, where he was a Green Beret medic and volunteered for a covert operation behind enemy lines. He won the Silver Star for saving the lives of his team members when they were under fire on a reconnaissance mission in Vietnam.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Being rich doesn't make you smart...
Accidental deaths of the rich and famous.
Very sad. It seems like he was a brave and kind person.
No but being a Green Beret who won the Silver Star makes him a Hero.
No but being a Green Beret who earned the Silver Star makes him a Hero.
I am grieving for his family.
"No but being a Green Beret who earned the Silver Star makes him a Hero."
Very well said. RIP John Walton.
A very unreliable one I would say.
Hope he was saved!!!
Yes to everything you said.
The plane was a CGS Hawk Arrow, which is an experimental lightplane that weighs about 330lb (150kg) empty if built minimally light -- it is not a legal ultralight. It is a single seat machine, a variation of a plane that has been made since the early 1980s with a good safety record.
http://www.cgsaviation.com/singlearrow.htm
Because the machine was not legally operating under 14 CFR Part 103, the NTSB =should= conduct a complete investigation. It would be unwise to speculate on the cause of the accident at this time.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
CGS Hawk Arrow, believe a single seater (it comes in one and two seat versions). See my post #8. Info from the AP story at Forbes, so bear in mind that it's AP -- they wrote and filed a report on how Bush's speech tonight was received, and had it on the wires three hours before the speech.
Maybe they're clairvoyant, which would explain why AP reporters and photographers always turn up at scenes of terrorist outrages. Most ofthe guys believe that they are working with and for the terrorists.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
A sad ending to a life well led. RIP.
Hey Blue.....................
Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Security does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it. Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than exposure.
Helen Keller
For some of us fresh homemade adrenaline is the drug of choice.
Aren't those sometimes outfitted with a parachute atop the wing?
Why don't you just live your life. He chose his way of life. But then again, you must know best for everyone, you are pathetic.
Agreed......but killing one's billion-doillar self with a homemade experimental plane????
Surely there are plenty of hobbies that he could have afforded that would have had lower odds of splattering his carcass across a field.....
Walton wasn't sittin' around on his rich thumbs, he was out there living his life to the fullest. God bless him.
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