- For the son of Zebulon and Esther Walton, please see Benjamin Walton.
Benjamin "Ben" Walton (born January 1921) is the fourth Walton child. He was named after John's brother, who died while in combat during WW1
He always seems to be the one in the family who attempts to make money by some type of ridiculous scheme, and usually gets himself into trouble and has to be bailed out by his father or John Boy,
Even as an adult, running the mill in partnership with his father, he continues to make deals which sometimes don't work out well (including hiring the lazy, unproductive Easy Jackson).
He elopes to marry Cindy and together they have two children, Virginia and Charlie, to whom he is devoted. He continues to work at and run the timber mill with an assortment of people: his father, Paul Northridge, (Erin's husband) and Drew Cutler (Elizabeth's boyfriend)
Ben joins the Navy due to an overwhelming feeling of not being patriotic enough like his other family members. Ben and his friend and fellow soldier, Norman, are taken as American troops during the episode “The Last Ten Days” by a Japanese prison guard, who surrendered to them to preserve his life. With the help of a camp guard, he is eventually freed and goes back to Walton's Mountain[1]
In Mother's Day on Walton's Mountain, both Ben and his wife Cindy welcome the birth of their 2nd child Charles Walton.