More detail on this person: RUSSELL, Jr.,
Walter B. Lieutenant Colonel Walter B. Russell,
Jr., U.S. Army (Ret.), died in his sleep on
Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at 5:10 a.m. He was 86
years old. Walt, as he was known to family and
friends (many of whom also used his childhood
nickname, Buddy), lived what most would consider
a heroic life, bravely serving his country, and
triumphing over physical disability. He exhorted
his children to weigh their decisions against his
credo that "life is not a rehearsal," and he
backed up his words with action. Walt was never
just rehearsing. He was characteristically
reluctant to blow his own horn, however, and
always sought to deflect admiration for his
considerable achievements, preferring to give
credit to his wife, Nancy Hinton Russell. His
disarming, understated charisma drew people to
him. Walt was born on July 24, 1929, in
Greensboro, North Carolina, and grew up in a
sprawling Southern family. After graduating from
West Point in 1951, he embarked on a
distinguished military career, earning, among
other commendations, two Purple Hearts, the
Bronze Star, the Silver Star, the Distinguished
Flying Cross, and the Legion of Merit. As a
23-year-old first lieutenant, Walt fought in Korea
in the famous 1953 battle of Pork Chop Hill. (In
the movie of the same name based on the battle, he
is played by Rip Torn and his best friend, West
Point classmate, and brother-in-law, Joseph G.
Clemons, Jr., is played by Gregory Peck.) Walt
spent the next twelve years in the airborne
infantry, earning ratings as a Senior Parachutist,
Ranger, and Army Aviator. In 1954 Walt met and
wooed Nancy Hinton. They were married that same
year in Columbia, Missouri, had five children, and
last year celebrated their sixty-first
anniversary. In 1965, Walt declined an invitation
to attend the elite Armed Forces Staff College in
order to go to Vietnam with the men he had helped
train as part of the 1st Cavalry Division. On
October 10th of that year, he sustained a sniper's
bullet to the head while co-piloting a command
helicopter during combat. The wound resulted in
extensive permanent paralysis to his left side.
Army doctors told him he would never walk again,
and counseled that he should resign himself to a
passive life of television and puttering around
the house. Determined to defy them, Walt fiercely
pushed himself through a grueling year of
rehabilitation at Walter Reed Hospital, also
subjected to Nancy's brand of strenuous home
therapy, and, against all expectation, taught
himself how to walk again. Walt retired from the
Army in 1966 and, still refusing to be bested by
his physical disability, began building a new life
for himself as a civilian. He put himself through
Emory Law School, serving as president of its
student body, and passed the Georgia bar in
November 1970. That same month he started his
own law practice and was elected to the Georgia
House of Representatives, where he served three
terms. He went on to be elected Chairman of the
DeKalb County Board of Commissioners, serving
from 1976 to 1980. He retired after 25 years of
politics and practicing law in Decatur. During
these remarkably productive years, Walt mastered
his disability with iron self-discipline,
maintaining a rigorous schedule that required
rising at 5:00 a.m. to ride his stationary bicycle
before facing exhausting days of campaigning,
holding office, and running a law practice.
Despite the unrelenting challenges forced upon him
by his physical condition, he did it all, without
complaint or fanfare. Walt loved knowledge. An
avid reader, he soaked up serious non-fiction,
drinking deeply from the well of history,
biography, and literature throughout his life. Yet
he was also the self-appointed president of the
Trashy Book Club, whose mission was to inflict
throw-away paperback mysteries and thrillers on a
far-flung membership. Walt was a talented athlete
in his youth and retained his passion for sports
as a fierce Bulldogs fan and a lover of baseball
(the Braves, on and off). He was also a lifelong
chess player and in his last 12 years clocked over
336 hotly contested games with his son Stuart in
California, played remotely by Skype. It cannot be
said that he was a good loser in the chess arena.
His drive to excel never left him. Walt was known
to cry at sentimental movies. He gave up smoking
three times before it stuck. He would fight you
for the last piece of caramel cake. We miss you,
Walt Russell -- husband, father, brother,
grandfather, good friend. We salute you and your
remarkable life. Your memory will live in our
hearts and minds forever. In addition to his wife,
Nancy Hinton Russell, Walt is survived by his
children, Walter B. Russell, III (Sally); Emily
Russell (John); Betty Hinton Russell (Peter);
Stuart Brevard Russell (Kate); and Anne Russell
Eiswirth (Rick); his sisters, Cecil Russell
Clemons (Joseph) and Ina Russell; his brother,
Pierre MacFarland Russell (Kim). His sister Emily
Russell Campbell preceded him in death. He is also
survived by his grandchildren, John Alexander
Russell, Andrew Hinton Russell, Sara Russell,
Emily Russell Kuper, Alexandra Minetree Jones,
Richard Samuel "Ike" Eiswirth III, and Jackson
Walter Eiswirth. He also leaves behind him scores
of first, second, and third cousins, whose annual
reunion in Winder, Georgia, was the highlight of
Walt's year; his West Point classmates, to whom
he was devoted; and his beloved caretaker, Vickie
Lucas, upon whom he relied for 15 years. A burial
service with full military honors will be held at
the Russell Family Cemetery in Winder. In lieu of
flowers, contributions may be sent to the
educational fund: Park Springs Foundation, 500
Springhouse Circle, Stone Mountain, GA 30087.
Please mark checks, "In Memory of Walt Russell."
A. S. Turner & Sons Funeral Home &
Crematory.
Published in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on
May 22, 2016
This information was last updated 05/22/2016
Please send additions or corrections to: HQ@vhpa.org VHPA Headquarters
Return to the Helicopter Pilot DAT name list
Return to VHPA web site
Date posted on this site: 03/10/2024
Copyright © 1998 - 2024 Vietnam Helicopter Pilots Association