LT. COL. JOHN THORNTON WALKER - Personal pilot for Gen. Mark Clark
Data: 14/03/2010Autore: RYAN SHORTListe: ARTICLES IN ENGLISHCategorie: RicercheTag: aviazione, protagonisti, thornton-walker-john, usa

LT. COL. JOHN THORNTON WALKER - PERSONAL PILOT FOR GEN. MARK CLARK

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While searching for Liaison Pilot information online recently, and L-5 pilots in specific, I came across information about Lt. Col. Walker, who served in the Italian Theater with General Mark Clark. Lt. Col. Walker served with high-ranking officials from the US and Allied forces in the Mediterranean Theater of Operations for three years. The next paragraph is a brief synopsis of Walker's story - as provided by a member of the family. It has been slightly edited (with permission).

John Thornton Walker was born on 24 Aug., 1912 near Rochester, Illinois and lived there until he was 8 years old. In 1920 his family moved to Springfield, IL. He graduated from Springfield High School in 1931 and became a Cub reporter with the Illinois State Journal based in Springfield. In the early 1930's he took flight lessons and eventually owned his own Piper Cub. He became the aviation editor for the newspaper and he was also the publicity director for the Illinois State Dept. of Agriculture. Most folks in Springfield called him Thornton or just “T” and General Clark (during WW2) called him Jack. John married Geraldine Hudson of Washington, Indiana on March 29th, 1934. His wife Geraldine was also a pilot and flew locally with John in the Springfield area. Mr. Walker joined the Illinois Army National Guard (Mechanized Cavalry Squadron) and went through all of the Enlisted Ranks (E-1 thru E-7) before he became a 2nd Lt.. His unit was called to active duty in 1940 and they served at Camp Livingston , La. through 1940 and 1941. He then was transferred to the Air Corps and trained at Fort Sill, Ok. for 8 weeks and then after a short tour at Alexandria AB, La. (where his daughter Connie Ann was born in March, 1942) was shipped to England and then to North Africa. There, in late 1942, he became General Mark Clark's personal pilot.

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He flew combat operations with General Clark in North Africa, Sicily and Italy flying mostly L-4 and L-5 aircraft. Besides General Clark, Col. Walker flew many dignitaries over the Anzio, Salerno, Monte Cassino, Rome and other battle fronts including Sec. of War Stimson, General George C. Marshall, General "Hap" Arnold, General Dwight D. Eisenhower, Sec. of Navy Forrestal and General Jacob Devers. He won many Decorations including the Silver Star, Legion of Merit and Air Medal's. He is mentioned is several books about WW2 including General Clark's Calculated Risk (Gen. Clark tells of several of their escapades & crashes) and Margaret Bourke White's Purple Heart Valley.In at tragic accident, Lt. Col. Walker was killed on 19 Feb. 1945 while beginning a short leave to fly home to visit his wife and daughter. The English transport aircraft in which he was a passenger crashed on takeoff from the Rome airfield. There were no survivors. Speculation at the time was that the aircraft was overweight and out of balance. Lt. Col. Walker was buried in Italy in a ceremony presided over by General Clark. His remains were later brought home and are buried in Geraldine's hometown of Washington, Indiana. On 29 May, 1951 in a ceremony presided over by General Mark Clark, "Walker Air Strip" at Fort Monroe, Virginia was dedicated to the memory of Lt. Col. John Thornton Walker. Geraldine and Connie Ann were in attendance.

While Lt. Col. Walker's story may not have been typical of the experience of most Lbird pilots, it highlights the usefulness of these aircraft even to higher level commanders. He transported Gen. Clark all over the place throughout the army's march through Italy and survived several crash landings - including once, when he was flying an L-4 and was chased home by German Bf-109 fighters. He ended up "landing" in a tree - but was able to walk away.

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