Obituaries: Capt. W. Edward Walker, Jr., 1944, Winn Parish, LA
Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483
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From: December 7, 1944 Winn Parish Enterprise

Captain Edward Walker, Killed in California, To Be Buried Friday, 3 P. M.

The funeral services for Captain W. E. Walker, Jr., 25, a Marine Air Corps
veteran pilot of South Pacific battles, will be conducted at the First
Methodist Church in Winnfield, Friday afternoon at 3 o'clock, and burial will
follow in the local cemetery.  Captain Walker's body, accompanied by a Marine
escort, arrived here Thursday afternoon from the West coast where he was
killed in an airplane accident last Thursday.

Rev. Alwin Stokes, Presbyterian minister who will be in charge of the
services, will be assisted by Rev. Harvey B. Hysell, pastor of the Firist
Methodist Church.

Captain Walker was injured Thursday, November 30, at 2:40 o'clock while on
duty as signal officer on an aircraft carrier.  He was struck by the wing of
an airplane making a landing on the carrier, but further details of the
accident have not been obtained as it is not know whether he was instantly
killed or died later in the hospital.  The telegram from the war department
stated that his death resulted from an airplane crash which occurred near
Thermal, California.

The tragic death of Captain Walker happened one week from the day he left his
home in Winnfield, where he had spent a fifteen day leave, to report to his
new assignment in California.

After enlisting in the Navy Air Corps in September, 1941, he received his
commission as second lieutenant in the Marine Air Corps in August, 1942 at
Corpus Christi, Texas.  Between October 1942 and January 1944 he piloted a
fighter plane in the battles of the South Pacific, after which time he
returned to the states for special training as a landing officer on a carrier.
He completed the special training at an air base in Florida and Chicago, Ill.,
November 15.

Captain Walker was a member of the Winnfield Methodist Church.  He graduated
from the Winnfield High School in 1936 and attended Louisiana Tech and Normal
before joining the service.

He is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Walker, Sr., of Winnfield;
and two brothers, Cpl. Francis Walker, serving somewhere overseas, and Lt.
Murphy L. Walker, who is stationed at Malden, Missouri.

Out of town relatives who arrived in Winnfield this week to be with Mr. and
Mrs. Walker and attend the funeral are Mrs. Walker's sisters, Mrs. J. H.
Tomlinson of El Dorado, Ark., Mrs. R. P. Whitman of Ruston, Mrs. Hart Riser of
Ruston, Mrs. C. A. Brooks of Conrod, Texas, Mrs. Lola E. Wright, of Phoenix,
Arizona, and Mr. Walker's two sisters and brother, Mrs. Emma Tyson of Camden,
Ark., Mrs. W. E. Farmer of Ruston, and George F. Walker, of Shreveport.