Walton Walker was born in Belton, Texas, the only surviving child of Sam Sims Walker, a successful merchant and real estate dealer, and Mary Lydia (Harris) Walker. Both parents were natives of Texas, and both were the children of former Confederate army officers, respectively from Virginia and Georgia. The family's religious affiliation was Methodist.
Walker attended Wedemyer Military Academy in Belton, spent a year at the Virginia Military Institute, and in 1912 graduated as an infantry officer from the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Walker served at army posts in Illinois, Oklahoma, and Texas. He was a member of the expedition, led by Gen. Frederick Funston, which occupied Veracruz, Mexico, in 1914, at a time of strained United States-Mexican relations. During World War I he served as a major with the 13th Machine Gun Battalion, took part in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives, and was twice cited for gallantry in action, receiving the Silver Star with an Oak Leaf Cluster. He rose to lieutenant colonel while on duty with the army of occupation. In the interwar years Walker graduated from the Field Artillery School (1920), the Infantry School (1923), the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kans. (1926), and the Army War College (1936). During the 1920's he was also an instructor at the Infantry and Coast Artillery schools and a tactical officer at West Point. His assignments during the 1930's included three years (1930 - 1933) with the 15th Infantry on international railroad patrol in Tientsin, China. In February 1941, now a colonel, Walker took command of the 36th Infantry at Camp Polk, La. That July, as brigadier general, he commanded the 3rd Armored Brigade and then the 3rd Armored Division. Promoted to major general in February 1942, he headed the IV Armored Corps at Camp Young, Calif. , and in October was named to direct the vast Desert Training Center. Early in 1944 he moved his headquarters, now redesignated the XX Corps, to England. The XX Corps entered combat in France early in August as part of the Third Army led by Gen. George S. Patton. Walker, directing several divisions, seized Angers and Chartres and crossed the Seine River near Melun, where he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for gallantry under fire. He then took Reims and reached the Meuse River at Verdun. Short, stocky, and pugnacious, Walker was nicknamed "Bulldog" for his determined fighting spirit; Patton called him one of his most aggressive leaders. During the severe winter combat of 1944, Walker led his forces across the Moselle River, and after more than two months of fierce German resistance, reduced the fortress complex of Metz. He liberated Thionville and plunged across the Saar. The XX Corps became known as the Ghost Corps for the speed of its advances; it crossed the Rhine in Germany, captured Kassel to encircle the Ruhr, liberated the notorious concentration camp at Buchenwald, and drove into Austria. In April 1945 Walker was promoted to lieutenant general. After the close of the war in Europe, he returned to head the Eighth Service Command at Dallas, and later the Fifth Army Area in Chicago. In 1948 he went to Tokyo to assume command of the Eighth Army, the major ground forces headquarters in Gen. Douglas MacArthur's Far East Command. At the outbreak of the Korean conflict in 1950, Mac-Arthur placed him in command of all American ground forces in Korea; Walker subsequently took command of South Korean and United Nations troops as well. By the end of July, U. N. ground forces were pushed into a pocket in the southeastern corner of Korea known as the "Pusan Perimeter. " With coolness, skill, and inspiring leadership, Walker fought an impressive battle against superior odds, deploying his units along the line with great dexterity. On July 29 he issued his famous "Stand or Die" order, declaring that "there will be no Dunkirk, there will be no Bataan. . We must fight until the end. " The order drew criticism, but Walker succeeded in holding the perimeter and thus enabled Mac-Arthur in mid-September to launch from Japan his invasion at Inchon. With the pressure against the Pusan Perimeter relieved, Walker immediately went on the offensive, linking up with the American forces that captured Seoul. For personal bravery in these actions he was awarded the Oak Leaf Cluster to his Distinguished Service Cross. Walker's Eighth Army advanced into North Korea, captured the capital, Pyongyang, and reached the Chongchon River. The entry of Chinese Communist forces into the war made it impossible to hold, and Walker conducted a "scorched earth" withdrawal to the 38th Parallel. Two days before Christmas, he was killed when his jeep collided with a truck just north of Seoul. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Washington.
Walker married Caroline Victoria (Emerson) Walker on March 18, 1924. they had the only child, Sam Sims, who was an army officer.
