Donald Walters Donald Ralph Walters ( September 16 , 1969 – March 23 , 2003 ) was a United States Army Quartermaster Corps Sergeant , officially listed as killed in action in southern Iraqi city of Nasiriyah on March 23 , 2003 in the same ambush in which Jessica Lynch was captured . He was awarded the Silver Star for his gallantry during the attack . Biography . Walters grew up in Colorado where his father was a trombone player at the United States Air Force Academy . The family moved to Salem , Oregon in 1981 where he graduated from North Salem High School . He lived in the Kansas City , Missouri area for about six years . The aspiring writer of children ’ s books served in the first Persian Gulf War . He left active duty for the reserves in Independence , Missouri . He worked as a corrections officer and at a jail , and at the airport in Kansas City . He re - entered the Army in the summer of 2002 to give his family a better quality of life . Walters was a food service specialist ( cook ) and member of the United States Army 507th Maintenance Company . The exact nature of Walters ' death , and its relationship to the Lynch ambush has created controversy . Walters ' family had called for an investigation into their son ' s death , pressuring the Oregon National Guard , who released , on May 27 , 2004 , information suggesting that Walters was captured and executed . A National Guard spokesman stated that an Iraqi ambulance driver witnessed Walters , still alive , guarded by six Fedayeen , in front of a building . Walters was led inside the building , and several hours later , the same witness delivered his dead body to a hospital . DNA samples recovered from blood in the building match that of Walters , and splatter vectors suggest that he died from two gunshot wounds to the back , from more than twenty feet away . During initial reports after the Lynch rescue , it had been stated that a blonde soldier , presumably Lynch , had fought until she ran out of ammunition , although she later refuted this ; although there has been no official investigation into this matter , it has been widely speculated that this soldier was Walters , who is also blond . Walter ' s mother , Arlene Walters , appeared on the CBS " Early Show " , making this claim , on May 28 . Army reports from 2003 state that Walters died in the fighting during an ambush that left ten others dead ; with no American witnesses to his death . It has now been suggested that Walters was separated from his unit ; several gun magazines were found near the location of Walters ' capture , suggesting that he may have , indeed , fought until he ran out of ammunition . Before capture , Walters was shot in the leg , stabbed twice with a knife in the abdomen and had a dislocated left shoulder . Sgt . Walters was interred with military honors at the Fort Leavenworth National Cemetery , Fort Leavenworth , Kansas on April 12 , 2003 . More than 150 of Sgt . Walters ' relatives , friends and Army comrades attended his funeral . At the funeral , his widow , Stacie , was presented with the Bronze Star and Purple Heart awarded to her husband . Sgt . Walters ' posthumously awarded Bronze Star was upgraded to the Silver Star for gallantry in action , in March 2004 . The ceremony was held at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas with Brigadier General Howard Bromberg , director of the Enlisted Personnel Management Directorate , U . S . Army Human Resources Command presenting the decoration to Mrs . Walters . In his remarks , General Bromberg suggested that Sgt . Walters is believed to have provided covering fire for his comrades , allowing many of them the opportunity to escape at the cost of his own life . Sgt . Walters also received the Prisoner of War Medal in May of the same year .