As Memorial Day approaches, we recall a young man from Melrose who served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice.
1st Lt. James G. Dunton grew up at 115 Howard Street and graduated from Melrose High School in 1958. As his year book entry attests, his accomplishments were wide and varied: from sports and theatre to student government and civic service. At Harvard he skated for the Crimson before graduating in 1962. From there he entered military service and, after several months of training in guerilla warfare tactics, including completing Ranger School, was deployed overseas.
1st Lt. Dunton was at a forward outpost with other U.S. Special Forces advisors assigned to an ARVN unit early in the Vietnam conflict. He was killed in action during the Battle of An Lao when his position was overrun on December 8, 1964, in Rach Gia, Vietnam, by an overwhelming NVA and Viet Cong force. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart medal and is memorialized on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, panel 1E, line 74.
1st Lt. Dunton's funeral was held at the First Congregational Church in Melrose where he had attended Sunday School growing up. Survivors included his wife, Brenda (also a graduate of MHS Class of 1958), who lived at their home at 304 Upham Street, and his parents Rear Admiral and Mrs. Lewis W. Dunton, Jr. (Ret.) There is a park named in his honor on Franklin Street, across from Albion Street.
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