Sidney Walton (February 11, 1919 – October 2, 2021) was a

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

veteran.

Biography

Born on the

Lower East Side The Lower East Side, sometimes abbreviated as LES, is a historic neighborhood in the southeastern part of Manhattan in New York City. It is located roughly between the Bowery and the East River from Canal to Houston streets. Historically, it w ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

, on February 11, 1919, Walton spent his early life there, joining the Army in March 1941. He served during World War II, being discharged in 1946 at the rank of

corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

. After the war, he taught geology at

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

and pursued graduate studies at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

. He married school teacher Rena Bell in 1954. He later had a civilian job at the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

base in Maine, and one at the

NAS North Island Naval Air Station North Island or NAS North Island , at the north end of the Coronado peninsula on San Diego Bay in San Diego, California, is part of the largest aerospace-industrial complex in the United States Navy – Naval Base Coronado ...

in San Diego after having moved there in 1960. He lived in

Clairemont, San Diego Clairemont (or Clairemont Mesa) is a community in San Diego, California, United States. It has a population of about 81,600 residents and an area of roughly . Clairemont is bordered by Interstate 805 on the east, Interstate 5 to the west, Stat ...

, until the death of his wife in 1982, and by the late 1980s had moved to

Rancho Bernardo Rancho Bernardo is a master-planned community in the northern hills of San Diego County, California. Geography The topography of Rancho Bernardo consists of canyons and rolling hills that have large bedrock outcroppings. The major floral biomes ...

. In April 2018, he set out on a "No Regrets" tour with the goal of meeting the President of the United States and the

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

s of all 50 states. By July 2019, he had met 23 governors and President

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

. On February 2, 2020, Walton was one of four surviving World War II veterans who participated in the coin flip for

Super Bowl LIV Super Bowl LIV was an American football game played to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2019 NFL season, 2019 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion 2019 Kansas City Chiefs season, Kansas City ...

. He died on October 2, 2021, at the age of 102.

References

1919 births 2021 deaths United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army non-commissioned officers American men centenarians People from the Lower East Side Military personnel from New York City Duke University faculty Yale University alumni United States Air Force civilians {{US-mil-bio-stub