Walmart Founder Sam Walton's Genius Move: Why He Never Gave His 5 Kids Company Stock

John Walton, son of Walmart founder Sam Walton, defied his father’s objections in order to serve in Vietnam. John left college in 1968, galvanized by the Tet Offensive and frustrated by academic debates. “There were a lot of people talking about the war in the dorm rooms, but I didn’t think they understood it,” he later said. John enlisted in the Army, volunteering for the elite Green Berets, where he trained as a Special Forces medic and rose to assistant team leader in the secretive Military A