Sam Felton, decorated war hero from Lorain, dies at 70

LORAIN — Lorain County lost one of its most honored and visible veterans Friday when decorated war hero Samuel "Sam" Felton Jr. died. Felton was 70. His cause of death is believed to be a heart attack, friends said Saturday. Felton served three tours in Vietnam with the U.S. Marine Corps, from December 1968 to August 1971. While there, he received both the Navy Cross for heroism and the Purple Heart for being wounded in combat. The Navy Cross is the second-highest decoration for valor in combat in the Marines and U.S. Navy, and fewer than 500 were handed out during the Vietnam War. Felton — then a private first class and fire team leader with Company C of the U.S. Marines 1st Battalion, 5th Marines, 1st Marine Division — earned it by rescuing three wounded Marines during an intense 11-day battle near An Hoa, Quảng Nam Province, in June 1969. "Not to sound arrogant, but I was utterly fearless because, at that point, I didn't care," he told the Chronicle-Telegram in November 2013. "I probably couldn't have been able to live with myself if I didn't do something to try to help them." Fifty years later, in late 2019, Felton was inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame, for his contributions to the community and to fellow veterans. Upon his return to Lorain, Felton owned a karate academy and several billiard parlors, he told the Ohio Department of Veteran Affairs in a video honoring his induction. He also worked at U.S. Steel and Invacare and over time, struggled to cope with the demons of the violence he saw and committed and the fellow Marines he lost in Vietnam, he told the Chronicle-Telegram in 2013. Still, "I just had to do something to help other veterans," he said in the Veteran Affairs video. In more than 45 years of advocacy, Felton supported fellow veterans as a Commander and Life Member of the Disabled American Veterans Lorain Chapter 20; chairman of the Valor Home Board; delegate to the Lorain Veterans Council; member, First Marine Division Association; member, National Association of Black Veterans and Ohio Chairman of the Advisory Committee of Valor Home, a nonprofit organization providing services for homeless veterans. He was co-founder and three-time president of the Lorain Veterans Council, as well as a past commander of AMVETS. He also received the 2006 Vietnam Service Multiple Medals Award, the Secretary of State's 2007 Outstanding Veterans Award and was named the Lorain Ohio Veteran of the Year in 2010. Felton would volunteer to speak with fellow veterans and urge them to seek help or provide peer support, even driving them to their appointments and assisting them in getting VA services. He attended numerous events throughout the year and for more than 30 years was always present at the Lorain County Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Amherst on the Saturday before Memorial Day, when veterans read the names of the 98 Lorain County men who died during the Vietnam War. That memorial took on an even more somber tone Saturday as more than 50 people gathered for the reading for the first time without Felton. Joe Horvath, a U.S. Army veteran from Amherst Township, was the Lorain Veteran of the Year in 2017. He mourned the loss of his "great, dear friend" in remarks after the memorial service. Horvath said he was "truly heartbroken," and asked those present to keep Felton, his friends and family in their thoughts and prayers. Don Attie, the 2013 Lorain Veteran of the Year and a fellow DAV member of Felton's, broke down as he honored his "dear friend" whom he called "an outstanding man" who is "never forgotten, and always in our hearts." "He was our bridge, our voice for our veterans," Attie said. He also shared what Felton said to him after he was invited to Columbus to be inducted into the Ohio Veterans Hall of Fame in 2019: "He said 'Don, it's nice but really what it does for me is it gives a bigger voice for our veterans,'" Attie recalled. "God bless Sam, God bless America and God bless all of you." Felton's help, advice and reputation were instrumental in helping get the Lorain County Veterans Treatment Court off the ground, Probate Judge James Walther said. Walther said he first met Felton in the mid-2000s when he was still an attorney in private practice and Felton became a client. When Walther started up the Veterans Treatment Court in 2012, to assist veterans who were in trouble with the law, he met with Felton during the first week. Felton was "immediately a supporter of the idea, and went with me some places and he gave me credibility for the program. I would go to veterans groups and he'd stand up and talk for me," Walther said. Felton later spoke at graduation ceremonies for veterans who completed the treatment court program and helped out veterans struggling to finish, Walther said. "A lot of people talk about his winning the Navy Cross, the only person from Lorain County to win the Navy Cross in Vietnam, but I just think of him as so much more than that. He could have rested on his laurels, but he didn't: He came back to Lorain County and was a tireless advocate for veterans and veterans issues," he said. "You just can't replace a guy like Sam Felton." Felton's citizen and veteran advocacy also reached to youth and high school graduates looking to attend college or improve their job opportunities. He founded the Sam Felton Athletic Club and Youth Center, the Jackie Jones Felton Scholarship Fund for college-bound students, co-founded the Samuel Felton Jr. Community Development Program and worked youth and veterans interested in musical outreach. Felton was larger than life, said Lorain County Common Pleas Judge James Miraldi. The two were high school classmates and their friendship lasted five decades. "His loss is a devastating loss to our entire community," Miraldi said. Miraldi said he and Felton spent Fat Tuesday together in Little Italy with their high school friends Flynn Smith and Tim Jenkins. Miraldi said he wished he had brought a camera along to document the stories Felton told. "We just had the best time," he said. One story Felton told that Miraldi shared: As a 14-year-old growing up in Lorain, he was on a street corner one day when a limousine pulled up, the driver asking directions a club in the area. Felton gave the driver directions, but a voice from the back piped up: "Tell him to get in the car and take us there." So Felton gets in the front seat, and turns around to see the "Godfather of Soul" himself, James Brown, with "two or three beautiful babes with their arms around him," Miraldi said. "So James Brown took Sam under his wing, and he got to be James Brown's wingman for the evening," he said. Felton was out fishing on Friday, just doing something he loved, the judge said. "And within 24 hours, we didn't have him," Miraldi said. "If there's anyone who represented veterans and the sacrifices they've made, it's Sam Felton." Always outspoken, in 2019 Felton urged fellow veterans to boycott the Lorain County Fair that year after the Fair Board decided to allow vendors to continue to sell the Confederate flag. "I'm a veteran," Felton told the Chronicle-Telegram at the time. "I fought for this country. I bled for this country. And I believe in standing up for what is right." On Nov. 19, 2018, Lorain City Council named a section of East 36th Street "Sgt. Samuel L. Felton Jr. Blvd." to honor Felton for his service to the city and its people. "I thank everyone who has helped me travel this pat I embark," he said upon receiving the honor. "Sometimes it's not easy because you suffer with disappointments, and people don't necessarily believe in what you're doing. But you have to push on to make things better and make Lorain a better place. I have never once denied that this has been my home. I've been all over the country ... speaking out on behalf of veterans and people who do things for veterans ... and this is my home and I will continue to do that. Felton's Navy Cross citation reads, in part: "Early on the morning of 11 June 1969, Company C was established in a battalion night defensive perimeter two miles west of An Hoa Combat Base when its sector came under a heavy volume of rocket, mortar, recoilless rifle, and automatic-weapons fire followed by a determined assault by an estimated 100 North Vietnamese Army soldiers. When communications with a three-man listening post seventy-five meters forward of the perimeter were lost, Private First Class Felton established voice contact and learned that all three Marines were wounded and unable to return to the perimeter unassisted. With resolute determination, he left his fighting hole and although wounded by enemy fire, continued across the open terrain until he reached the beleaguered Marines. After administering first aid and ensuring that no equipment or ordnance was left behind, he provided covering fire as he directed the two least seriously wounded men across the hazardous area to the company lines. Despite his weakened condition from loss of blood, Private First Class Felton began to carry the most seriously injured Marine through the knee-deep mud and water of the rice paddy. Suddenly two hostile soldiers jumped in front of him, blocking his chance to return to friendly lines. Reacting instantly, he fired his M-16 rifle with one hand while supporting the wounded Marine with his injured arm, killing both of the enemy, and fearlessly continued his Herculean efforts until he delivered his wounded comrade to the battalion aid station." Marines William Jenkins and James Spencely were wounded by a grenade but lived. Marine Russell Buckner was mortally wounded, but it was he who Felton carried to safety and killed two enemy soldiers to protect. "Nobody wins in war," Felton told the Chronicle-Telegram in the 2013 interview, "except those who supply the ammunition." Plans for services were not immediately known. Walther said said he frequently would run into Felton when out with his family, and he always introduced him as "a true American hero." "Here he was, flesh and blood, standing here in front of you," the judge remembered. "I'm gonna miss him." Contact Dave O'Brien at (440) 329-7129 or dobrien@chroniclet.com. Follow him @daveobrienCT on Twitter.