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Billy Walkabout (March 31, 1949 - March 7, 2007) was thought to be the most decorated Native American soldier of the Vietnam War. He received the Distinguished Service Cross, five Silver Stars, ten Bronze Stars (including 5 with valor device), seven Air Medals, 10 Army Commendation Medals (including five with valor device), and six Purple Hearts.
Walkabout was born in Cherokee County, Oklahoma. He was a Cherokee of the Blue Holley Clan, the son of Warren Walkabout and Bobby Jean Chaudoin Walkabout.
Walkabout served as an Army Ranger in Vietnam, in the Co. F, 58th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division. He was awarded his Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in a reconnaissance mission behind enemy lines in November 1968. Under fire for several hours, Sergeant Walkabout was seriously wounded, three members of his 12-strong team were killed at the scene, and one other died later from his injuries. The citation for his award notes that he simultaneously returned fire, helped his comrades, and boarded injured soldiers onto evacuation helicopters. He spent six months in a coma, recovering, and later returned to Vietnam. He retired as a second lieutenant.
Billy has two sons Justin Walkabout who still resides in Oklahoma and Jason Knapp who is currently stationed in Georgia. Both sons have served in the Army. Billy also has a daughter Summer Dawn Walkabout currently stationed, with her husband Brian, in Georgia and Shane Allen Walkabout living in Texas with his wife Jeanette.
He married Juanita Medbury-Walkabout, a Mohegan Indian, in 2000. They lived in Montville, Connecticut.
He suffered from complications arising from exposure to the Agent Orange defoliant used in Vietnam. He was waiting for a kidney transplant, and took dialysis three times a week. He died of pneumonia and renal failure in a hospital in Norwich, Connecticut, survived by his wife and several children from earlier marriages.
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