Walker, Walton Harris “Johnnie Walker”.

Walker, Walton Harris, born on 03-12-1889 at Belton, Texas, son of Sam Sims and May Lydia (Harris) Walker, attended Wedemeyer Military Academy in Belton and Virginia Military Institute, and graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1912. Walker served in the Vera Cruz expedition in Mexico in 1914 and during World War I saw service in France at St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne. He was with the Army of Occupation in Germany until 1919. A regular army officer, Walker had attained the rank of Major General by World War II. As commander of the IV Armored Corps and XX Corps, he was given special commendations for his military abilities in the European Theater of Operations by General George Smith Patton.

 Walker was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant General and in 1948 was made commanding General of the United States Eighth Army  in Japan. With the Communist invasion of South Korea on 28-06-1950, the Eighth Army under Walker was directed to stop the invasion. Under General Douglas MacArthur

  , Walker was made commander of United Nations forces in Korea, a position he held until he was killed in a jeep accident on 23-12-1950, age 61. His merits as a commander in Korea have been questioned by historians. Often characterized as a tenacious and competent “fighter,” Walker has, however, been criticized for his underestimation of the North Korean army, for his reluctance to relieve incompetent commanders, and for his unwillingness to express disagreement with MacArthur on matters of strategy. Walker married Caroline Victoria Emerson  in 1924; they had one son, Sam Sims Walker, born 31-07-1925, who followed his father into the army and retired as a four-star General.  Walton Walker held seventeen military decorations, among them the Order of the War for the Fatherland and the Medal of Russian Guards Army. Sam Sims Walker, died on 08-08-2015, in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of 90.

  On 23-12-1950, Walker was killed in a traffic accident near Uijeoqbu, like his friend George Patton,   when his command jeep collided with a civilian truck at high speed as he inspected positions north of Seoul. His body was escorted back to the United States by his son, future General Sam S Walker. Walker was buried on 02-01-1951. Before burial in Arlington National Cemetery, Section 34, he was promoted to the rank of full General. Close by in Section 34 the graves of Air Force General, Commanding General U.S. Army Forces, Henry “Happy” Arnold and Major General, Commander 1^st Infantry Division, “The Big Red One” , James Collins, Major General, Pacific Theatre, Spencer Ball Akin.