Evening star., 1950-12-24
Gen. Walker S Body
Flown Back 70 Japan;
Macarthur al Airport
By the Associated Press

BY the Associoted Press
TOKYO, Sunday, Dec. 24.-The
body of 1t. Gen. Walton H. Walker
was flown to Japan today.
Gen. Macarthur and all tor
United Nations commanders ir
Japan were at Tokyo's Haneds
Airport when the C-54 transport
carrying Gen. Walkers body ar.
rived.
Among those waiting at the
airport was the generals son
Capt. Sam Walker. He returned
to Japan from Korea after hi.
fathers death Saturday.
The body was taken to Yoko.
hama where Gen. Walker made
his home. His widow waited
there.
Killed Early Yesterday.
Earlier, in Korea. a drab army
ambulance had taken the body
across the bleak countryside tc
his 9th Army headquarters fol-
transfer to Tokyo.
The fighting little general was
killed almost instantly yesterday
morning in the collision of his jeer
and a South Korean Army truck
as he was bound for the front to
decorate members of the British
27tn Commonwealth Brigade.
Col. Paul Maurer, 9th Corps
chaplain. formerly of Vincennes,
Ind. said in a brief, impromptu
service near the scene::F This is a
grievous loss to the United Nations
arms. in Korea at this difficult time
that this great commander
should meet his end in such a
tragic fashion"
Christmas Offensive Due.
At Seoul, generals of Gen.
Walkers command and a mingled
knot of roughly clad GIs bowed
their heads as the chaplain in
toned brief prayer.
The general had died at the
moment when his Army was feel
ing the first probing thrusts of
what is expected to be a great
Christmas offensive by the Chi
nese Communists. The Army thus
went under temporary command
at moment of grave peril.
Gen. Walkers heavy little We
hicle. weighted underneath with
steel to guard against land mines
and upsets. collided with a three
ton truck that pulled out of an
approaching South Korean Army
convoy on a narrow road.
The jeep was moving about 20
miles an hour over a wet but not
icy pavement. a witness said.
Hours later the Korean occupants
of the truck were still standing
at the scene, wondering at all the
commotion among the Americans.
In the field. acting command
was taken over by Maj. Gen. Frank
w. Milburn, commander of the 1st
Corps.
In Yokohama, Gen. Walkers
widow was notified at her resi-
dence. His son, 25-year-old Capt.
Sam Sims Walker, was summoned
from the front, where he had a
combat command in the oath Divi-
sion.
Capt. Walker arrived at the
small field hospital tent where the
generals body had been taken
about miles from the scene OF
the accident. A medic said:
He was alive when picked up
He was dead on arrival here"
Young Walker saw his father
body, wrapped in a CT blanket. He
wept, and went to the next tent
to see about three other men who
had been injured as they rode in
the jeep.
They were the generals aide
1t. Col. Clayton Tyner, his body
guard, a Sergt. Bolton, and his
driver, a Sergt. Reenan. The ex-
tent of their injuries was not re-
ported.
Other Officers Arrive.
Within a few minutes other
high-ranking officers arrived, most
of them old comrades of Gen.
Walker during World War II, when
he led the goth Corps in Gen
George S. Patton's sweep across
France.
Among them was Col. William
E. Collier, Gen. Walkers deputy
chief of staff and a lifelong friend.
Nearby was group of British
correspondents. who also were
travelling to the front to sec Gen.
Walker decorate the 27tn British
Commonwealth Brigade, including
the Argyll and Sutherland High
landers, the Middlesex Regiment,
the Australian contingent, and an
Indian ambulance unit.
Col. Collier, his eyes wet, told
the correspondents:
Gen. Walker is dead. I know
you shared the deep bereavement
we have suffered. knew the gen.
eral in a personal way over many
years
After a brief religious ceremony
conducted before an honor guard
of "a GIs who had been unloading
a truck, Gen. Walkers body was
taken from the front to Seoul te
go by air to JAPAN. Soldiers stood
along the road to watch.
Last Message to Troops.
Gen. Walkers last message
Christmas greetings to his troops
already was circulating among the
command posts. 1t said in part
Your valiant and unself1sf
contribution to the attainment Of
the Christmas ideal of on earth
peace to men of good will viii
remain an everlasting inspiration
to those who follow in your path
Gen. Walker was a short mar
who looked like a top sergeant
He had steel handrail across tht
front seat of his jeep so he coule
stand up and see what was going
on.
He arrived in Korea July II
after the North Koreans invaded
IiIno 0E oyoI IiroofoL ~. 1oa-