Sam S. Walker

Sam Sims Walker the son of General Walton Walker, himself a four-star general. He enrolled in the Virginia Military Institute in 1941, but transferred to the United States Military Academy the next year. Upon graduation from West Point with a B.S. degree on 4 June 1946, he was commissioned into the infantry, Returning to the United States at the end of his combat tour in 1951, he was assigned to the United States Army Infantry School as an instructor.

After graduating in 1957 from the Command and General Staff College, Walker served in a variety of assignments, including aide-de-camp to the Chief of Staff of the Army, tactical officer at West Point, and Secretary of the General Staff of the United Nations Command/United States Forces Korea. He was a distinguished graduate from the National War College in 1964, while also earning an M.S. degree in international relations from George Washington University. Walker then assumed command of the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment. He volunteered for duty in South Vietnam, serving as G-3, 1st Infantry Division, and took command of the 2d Brigade as a lieutenant colonel, earning a second Silver Star. He led the brigade during Operation Attleboro. Walker was also awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Bronze Star Medal and thirteen Air Medals.

As a lieutenant general, Walker served as the deputy commanding general, United States Army Forces Command at Fort McPherson, Georgia from 1975 to 1977. In 1977 he was selected for promotion to general, at the time the youngest four-star general in the army, He was buried at West Point Cemetery on 12 October 2015, Section XVIII, Row F, Site 65.

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