THE WALL OF FACES

Thank you for your service to our country so long ago sir. As long as you are remembered you will always be with us...

Warrant Officer James Edward Burton, Jr. was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for his heroism and extraordinary achievement while engaged in aerial flight. He served as a Helicopter Pilot and was assigned to B CO, 158TH ASLT HELO BN, 101ST AVN GROUP, 101ST ABN DIV.
See http://www.virtualwall.org/db/BurtonJE01a.htm

Dear WO James Burton,
Thank you for your service as an Utility/Observation Helicopter Pilot. Your 69th birthday just passed. Happy Birthday. It is important for us all to acknowledge the sacrifices of those like you who answered our nation's call. Please watch over America, it stills needs your courage and faithfulness. Rest in peace with the angels.

I miss James everyday, he was the Pilot of 663 and I was his Crew chief. We were the same age and we got along like brothers. The day of that mission I will never forget. When James came out to the Helicopter after getting back from the mission brief. He said we were the lead ship and we were going into an area that had NVA all around and if we saw anything move....shoot it. There were no friendlies around the area. We had a load of ARVN's on board and as soon as we landed in the LZ,.... NVA's were all around us. James was shot (KIA) and Kenny the gunner was shot (WIA). Weeks and months before that day, I made a promise to James. You see James had me in the cockpit with him every chance he had and taught me how to fly. He had me promise him I would go the Flight School and but I told him, he better come to my Graduation so he could pin the Wings on my uniform. Well,... I did go to Flight School and Graduated. My Mother pinned on the Wings for James that day. It was another day I would never forget. I was a Helicopter Pilot and retired a CW4 because of my brother James E. Burton Jr.and we shall fly together again some day.

Jim was my best friend when we were growing up. Both of us had fathers in the Air Force who were stationed at Maxwell AFB in Montgomery Alabama...Jim and I went through grade school and junior high together and joined the cub scouts and were very close friends and pretty much inseperable. As usually happpens with military families our fathers were transferred and Jim and I lost touch until college. He was a freshman at Colorado Stated University with me in Fort Collins, CO I remember he had a Volvo sports car ...but went home one day and it was stolen in Colorado Springs, CO. He once attributed this to his leaving school. He moved back east worked for the phone company then joined the army and became a Warrant Officer and helicopter pilot. Wow gone at 21 years old. I will not forget him. As the command pilot he was shot in the chest but managed to turn the controls over to his co-pilot who returned it to base. Jim was gone in 30 seconds. A real hero and I still think of him 44 years later as my lifetime best friend.