Captain Layton was a crew member of a B-29A Superfortress Bomber with the 28th Bomber Squadron, 19th Bomber Wing. On 12 July 1950, while on a bombing mission, his aircraft was attacked by three Yak-9's near Seoul and its engine caught fire. The crew bailed out. Captain Layton was taken Prisoner of War, forced to march to North Korea on the "Tiger Death March" and died while a prisoner at An-Dong, North Korea, on 31 May 1951. His remains were recovered on 1 July 2004 and identified on 28 September 2006. His name is inscribed on the Courts of the Missing at the Honolulu Memorial.

Layton was awarded the Purple Heart, the Air Medal, the Prisoner of War Medal, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Korean Presidential Unit Citation and the Republic of Korea War Service Medal.