Eric William Kevin Walton GC, DSC (15 May 1918 – 13 April 2009) was an engineer officer in the Royal Navy during World War II and, in 1946, was a winner of the Albert Medal, which in 1971 was superseded by the George Cross.

He was the son of William Heward Murray Walton, a clergyman and missionary, and his wife Myra (née Hebbert),[2] whose family had served for four generations in the Indian Civil Service.

Like his father, Walton was educated at Monkton Combe School and Imperial College London, where he trained as a Civil Engineer.

[3] Walton joined the Royal Navy as an engineer officer at the start of World War II, and took part in various naval actions during the next five years.

On 26 August 1946 another member of the party, Major Tonkin, fell into a crevasse; the rescue that followed led to Walton being awarded the Albert Medal on 28 May 1948, and the following citation was published in the London Gazette on 8 June 1948: Whitehall, May 28, 1948.

The KING has been pleased to award the Albert Medal to Temporary Lieutenant (E) Eric William Kevin Walton, D.S.C., R.N., a member of the Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey, in recognition of his gallantry in the following circumstances:—

[5]With Dr Richard Butson, who also went on to win the Albert Medal for heroism,[6] Walton climbed several previously unconquered Antarctic peaks, some of which rise to heights of almost 13,000 feet.

Walton had various occupations on leaving the Royal Navy, including British Secretary of the International Antarctic Expedition, when he kept huskies in the gardens of the Royal Geographical Society in London; mechanic for Aston Martin in the Le Mans 24-hour race, and the first instructor for the Outward Bound Mountain School in the Lake District.