Remember... Major Roy Dalton Jr. 1946-1967 "Within the soul of each Vietnam veteran there is probably something that says 'Bad war, good soldier.' Only now are Americans beginning to separate the war from the warrior." Max Cleland

Major Roy Dalton Jr. was born to Major Roy and Grace Virginia Hall Dalton on February 17, 1946, in Morgantown, West Virginia. Mr. Dalton owned a truck and provided hauling services. The couple had four sons named Douglas, Prentice, Tyrone, and Major Jr. The Morgantown city directory recorded the family living on the Kingwood Pike from 1941 through 1960. Mr. Dalton was last listed a driver in 1960 on the available records.

Major Dalton Jr. attended Morgantown High School in the early 1960s. He entered into military service in Fairmont, West Virginia, and started his tour of duty on November 9, 1966. According to information found on Fold3 and in the Coffelt Database, in mid-December, he was in South Vietnam with the 5th Battalion, 2nd Artillery Regiment, as a specialist fourth class. He was an automatic weapons crewman.

Major Dalton in the Mohigan, 1964 Morgantown High School yearbook

Three weeks into his tour in Vietnam, riding in a military vehicle as a passenger, the shoulder on the road underneath the vehicle gave way. The tank rolled over into a deep ditch and exploded or caught fire. All aboard died. The Coffelt Database contains information that the vehicle was a truck, the adjutant general's report refers to the vehicle as a "military vehicle," and the Morgantown Dominion News reported that the vehicle was a tank. ("Local Soldier Killed in Viet," 6 January 1967.) Survivors were listed as his family and his fiancée.

Military marker for Major Roy Dalton Jr. in Beverly Hills Memorial Gardens. Courtesy Cynthia Mullens

Major Dalton's body was recovered and returned to the United States. He is interred in Beverly Hills Memorial Gardens, near Morgantown. Major Dalton is remembered at Morgantown High School, where a memorial to fallen veterans who attended the school is engraved with his name.

Article prepared by Cynthia Mullens
December 2020

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