US Army General. A decorated veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars, he rose in rank to become the Commanding General of Allied Land Forces, South East Europe. The son of US Army 4-star General Walton H. Walker, he attended the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia in 1941 but transferred the following year to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, and graduated in 1946 with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant in the Infantry. His first assignment was occupation duty with the 11th Airborne Division in Japan. After the Korean War broke out in June 1950, he served there as a company commander with the 24th Infantry Division, at the same time his father, who was commanding the US 8th Army there, was killed in a vehicle accident. In 1951 he returned to the US and became an instructor with the US Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia. From the early 1950s to the mid-1960s he served in various assignments, most notable as aide-de camp to the US Army Chief of Staff, and Secretary to the General Staff of the United Nations/US Forces in Korea, as well as attending formal military schools, including the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas (1957), National War College at Fort McNair, Washington DC (1963). During the Vietnam War, he volunteered for duty and became the G-3 of the 1st Infantry Division and later as commander of the 2nd Brigade, participating in Operation Attleboro. When he returned to the US, he attended the Advanced Management Program at Harvard University Business School in Boston, Massachusetts and afterwards he was assigned to Washington DC as Chief of Force Readiness, Force Planning and Analysis, with the Office of the Vice Chief of Staff, US Army. In 1968 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and was assigned to Fort Bragg, North Carolina as the Assistant Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division. The following year, he returned to West Point as the Commander of Cadets. Following a promotion to the rank of major general, he commanded the 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia from September 1972 until June 1974 and then became the US Commander in Berlin, Germany. In 1975 he returned to the US and promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, serving as Deputy Commanding General of the US Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Georgia. In 1977 he was promoted to the rank of general and became the Commanding General, Allied Land Forces Southeast in Turkey, and he retired in that position the following year with 32 years of continuous military service. At the time of his retirement, he was the youngest 4-star general in the US Army. Among his military decorations and awards include the Defense Distinguished Service Medal, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star (with one oak leaf cluster), the Legion of Merit (with two oak leaf clusters), the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal (with two silver and three bronze oak leaf clusters), the Army Commendation Medal, the American Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation Medal (with Japan clasp), the National Defense Service Medal (with one oak leaf cluster), the Korean Service Medal (with three campaign stars), the Vietnam Service Medal (with two service stars), the Presidential Unit Citation, the Meritorious Unit Commendation Medal, the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (1st class with palm), and the Civil Actions Medal (with palm). His foreign decorations and awards include the Gallantry Cross of Vietnam (with palm), the United Nations Korea Medal, the Vietnam Campaign Medal, and the Turkish Armed Forces Medal of Distinguished Service. After his military retirement, he became the Superintendent of the Virginia Military Institute, serving from 1981 until 1988. Additionally, he served on numerous advisory boards and was awarded the 2005 Distinguished Graduate Award from the Association of Graduates of the US Military Academy. He died in Charlotte, North Carolina at the age of 90.