Army Lt. Col. James J. Walton

Died June 21, 2008 Serving During Operation Enduring Freedom

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41, of Rockville, Md.; assigned to a Military Transition Team, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division, Fort Riley, Kan.; died June 21 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device and small-arms fire. Also killed were Spc. Anthony L. Mangano, Sgt. Nelson D. Ramirez Rodriguez and Sgt. Andrew Seabrooks.

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Soldier from Rockville killed in Afghanistan

The Associated Press

ROCKVILLE, Md. — A Rockville soldier was one of four killed in Afghanistan when their vehicle hit a roadside bomb, Pentagon officials said.

Forty-one-year-old Lt. Col. James J. Walton was assigned to a Military Transition Team, 1st Brigade, 1st Infantry Division based in Fort Riley, Kan. He died Saturday when a roadside bomb hit a coalition convoy in Kandahar, the Defense Department said.

Walton joined the Army in 1989, and this was his second deployment in the war on global terror, a Fort Riley spokeswoman said.

Joseph Moschler of Midlothian, Va., said Walton was married to his daughter, Sarah Walton of Arlington, Va. He said the couple last saw each other in December 2007 before Walton’s deployment.

“We’re still trying to deal with it,” Moschler said in a phone interview.

“He was a wonderful man, a real professional soldier and he was doing what he wanted to do,” Moschler said. “He was a graduate of West Point, he had 20 years of service, and he felt a real call to serve his government and his country — and he did it and never complained.”