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Long-Lost Vietnam Hero Plaque Returns To ASU Polytech

The children of Master Sergeant William C. Sutton attended the ceremony at the ASU Polytechnic Campus where the plaque honoring their father was placed on the building once more.
(Photo by Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez/ KJZZ News)
The children of Master Sergeant William C. Sutton attended the ceremony at the ASU Polytechnic Campus where the plaque honoring their father was placed on the building once more.

A building at ASU Polytechnic campus has had a piece of its history returned after missing for years.  A plaque honoring the memory of a Vietnam War soldier who died in service was rededicated during a special ceremony on Friday.

In 1972, the ASU Polytechnic campus was the Williams Air Force Base. That year, the military facility dedicated one its buildings Sutton Hall, named after Master Sergeant William C. Sutton. A plaque was placed on the building. Sutton was part of the 37 th Air Rescue and Recovery Group in Vietnam. He died in 1970 during a rescue mission in Laos. When the base was acquired by ASU in the 1990s, the name stayed. But at some point the plaque was gone. ASU’s Angela Creedon said the university never knew what happened to it, until about six months ago when the Sutton Family called to tell them an auction company had it.

“When I first received a call, I said we’re absolutely we’re gonna jump right in and recover that plaque, I don’t care what it takes," Creedon said. "So we sent our team out there to the auction, it actually was on the same day as the Tillman Run, and we recovered the plaque.”

With the support of the Sutton family, it has been placed back on the building. Sutton’s three children attended the ceremony. Keith Sutton was 7 years old when his father died. He said this is where the plaque belongs.

“Honors my dad and puts a name to the building," Sutton said. "I mean, why is it called Sutton Hall.”

It’s unknown who had the plaque or where it’s been all this time. ASU said it only cares that it’s home. 

Nadine Arroyo Rodriguez was a reporter at KJZZ from 2008 to 2015.