Gen. Walter Sharp, second from right, commander of the Korea-U.S. Combined Forces Command, and other dignitaries attend a ground-breaking ceremony for a statue of the late Gen. Walton H. Walker, the first commander of the Eighth U.S. Army during the 1950-53 Korean War, at the Yongsan Garrison in Seoul, Tuesday. From right are former Army general Paik Sun-yup; Sharp; Suh Jin-sup, chairman of the ROK-U.S. Alliance Friendship Society; and Lt. Gen. Joseph F. Fil, Jr., commander of the Eighth U.S. Army.
/ Yonhap |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
The Eighth U.S. Army (EUSA) in South Korea Tuesday held a groundbreaking ceremony for the raising of a statue of the late Gen. Walton H. Walker (1889-1950), the first commander of EUSA and UN forces during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The EUSA organized the ceremony at the Yongsan Garrison in cooperation with the ROK-US Alliance Friendship Society to commemorate the fallen hero's brave and able performance during the war to help safeguard peace and democracy in South Korea, EUSA officials said.
The construction of the statue will be completed by next September, they said. The society, chaired by Seo Jin-sup, plans to present a scroll carrying a Korean name for the late general to Walker's son, Sam Sims Walker, a spokesman said.
A native of Belton, Texas, Walker joined the Virginia Military Institute in 1907 and later transferred to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, graduating in 1912. He was awarded the Silver Star medal for bravery in action during World War I.
As the top commander of the allied troops in the early part of the Korean War, then-Lt. Gen. Walker led the successful defense line along the Nakdong River against invading communist North Koreans.
On Dec. 22, 1950, Walker was killed in an accident while trying to pass a stalled column of South Korean Army vehicles near Seoul. He was on his way to an awards ceremony to decorate soldiers of the Eighth Army.
His body was escorted back to the United States by his son, a battalion commander in the 19th Infantry in Korea at the time of his father's death. He was buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D.C.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
|
경찰, 이태원 등 외국인 밀집지역 특별관리
