Christine Walters Chrispen (left), daughter of Capt. Donovan Walters accepts a burial flag from Col. Charles McDaniel, commander of 92nd Air Refueling Wing, Fairchild Air Force Base (right) as 5th District Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers looks on.
A crowd of students, dignitaries and military personnel gathered in front of Medical Lake High School as the Jonas Babcock Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution held a special memorial to honor Vietnam veterans, Oct. 15.
The event included a rededication ceremony of the Capt. Donovan Walters memorial that stands on the school's lawn. DAR replaced the memorial's brass faceplate, which was stolen, with a granite plate.
Walters, a B-52 pilot from Fairchild Air Force Base, along with the other six crew members of the Olive 1, a B-52G model, were shot down by a missile, Dec. 21 1972, over North Vietnam during Operation Linebacker II.
The POW/MIA group at Fairchild Air Force Base asked Medical Lake High School if they could dedicate a memorial for Walters on the campus because of his ties to the city. The original memorial was dedicated in 1974 with a wooden cross and the planting of a tree.
"The tree was a sapling," former vice principal Russ Brown said, referring to the large tree behind Walters' memorial. "Forty-one years later, you can see what it has become."
Over time, age and weather damaged the wooden cross. In 1995 the cross was replaced by a granite rock from Silver Lake with an engraved plaque on it. By this time Walters' remains, which had been missing for 16 years, had returned home. In 2008 the faceplate on the rock was scratched and was replaced by the American Legion Post 196 and the Medical Lake High School JROTC.
Larry Beeler knew several of the Olive 1 crew members before they left on the mission. During the ceremony, he recalled the events leading up to the mission.
"This was my family, we partied together, we flew missions together," Beeler said. "I'll miss them for the rest of my life. There won't be a day I won't be thinking about them."
Family members of the deceased airmen received burial flags, including Christine Walters Chrispen, Walter's daughter who traveled to Medical Lake from Texas to attend the ceremony.
"I'm overwhelmed with the opportunity to be here," Chrispen said.
Al Stover can be reached at [email protected].
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