Edward Glenn Walker, Jr.

Edward Glenn Walker, Jr. was born in Lebanon, Tennessee on 27 September 1917. He was the second child of four raised by Bertha and Edward “E. G.” Walker Senior, and spent most of his youth in the Wilson County seat. The Walkers were well-known – almost a “first family” of Lebanon – thanks to E. G.’s status as a venerated county judge and administrator.

The younger Edward (who preferred to go by “Glenn”) graduated from Lebanon High School in 1936 and began his collegiate studies at Cumberland University, just a short distance from home. He later transferred to, and graduated from, the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. Glenn studied literature and liberal arts as an undergraduate, but his interests shifted to the law – perhaps thanks to his father’s influence – and he entered Harvard Law School in 1939.

Glenn attended Harvard for a year before changing directions again. On 31 October 1940, he enlisted in the Marine Corps and entered Officer Candidate School at Quantico. He had barely begun his training when bad news arrived from Lebanon. Judge E. G. Walker suffered a heart attack during a hearing on 26 November 1940, and was confined to the hospital. Glenn managed to secure an emergency furlough and arrived home in time to attend his father’s funeral on 15 December.

Glenn returned to Quantico two days after his father’s death and pitched himself into the difficult training regimen of OCS. He received his commission on 20 February 1941, attended Reserve Officer’s Class, and received his first command assignment as a machine gun platoon leader in Company D, First Battalion, 2nd Marines.

Second Lieutenant Walker spent most of 1941 with “D/1/2” at Camp Elliott, California, serving as a platoon leader and company executive officer. Shortly before Pearl Harbor, he transferred to the battalion’s headquarters company to serve as the Bn-1 (Adjutant) in charge of personnel and administration. Walker would remain in this role for much of 1942, including his regiment’s deployment overseas to the South Pacific. He also began to climb through the commissioned ranks, earning promotions to First Lieutenant and then to Captain within the span of a few months.

Captain Walker’s role with headquarters did not guarantee his safety. On 11 November 1942, while in action on Guadalcanal, he was hit in the abdomen by bullet fragments which lodged near his right hip. Walker was rushed to Henderson Field for evacuation, and was flown to a hospital at Efate for evaluation. Doctors declared him “unfit for duty” for an “indefinite” duration, and Walker was soon on his way to Aukland, New Zealand for additional treatment.

Captain Walker was cleared for duty in January 1943, and was transferred to a casual company “awaiting return to 2nd Marines.” However, his recovery took longer than anticipated and instead of returning to the infantry right away, Walker became the commanding officer of the casual company. He was in no hurry to get back to the 2nd Marines; in March of 1943, Walker was examined for flight school, indicating he wanted to become a pilot. However, although he was cleared for training, nothing came of the idea. In mid-1943, Walker returned to the 2nd Marines to serve as a liaison officer with the Second Battalion.

In the late summer of 1943, Walker received yet another assignment. He took command of Easy Company, Second Battalion, 2nd Marines, and led them through the final stages of training and preparation for their next combat operation. They departed New Zealand in late October, heading for the Gilbert Islands and the invasion of Tarawa.

On 20 November 1943, Glenn Walker’s Easy Company was tasked with landing on Beach Red 2 – a heavily defended stretch of sand on Betio’s northern shore. The company came under fire as they approached the beach, and suffered extremely heavy casualties. Of 165 men who attempted to land, 62 were killed and scores more wounded. Five of the company’s officers died in action – including Captain Walker.

“We were the first wave that hit the beach,” wrote PFC James Jackson. “His [Walker’s] tractor was on the right of us, about twenty feet apart. His tractor never reached the beach, a shell hit it about thirty yards from the beach and drowned [the] men, [it was hit by] machine gun [fire] in its motor, they did not have a chance. There was noone alive in that tractor.”

Three days later, Captain Walker’s remains were retrieved and brought to the East Division Cemetery for burial. “Your son was a swell Marine,” Jackson wrote to Bertha. “We all learned to love him. The company lost a real Marine.”

In April 1946, the 604th Quartermaster Graves Registration Company excavated Betio’s many burial sites with the goal of identifying and consolidating the remains. The effort was complicated by the effects of “beautification” that took place after the battle – many cemeteries were memorials only, and the original markers were long gone. The GRS men needed to carefully catalog all personal effects to have a hope of identifying the bodies they found.

Captain Walker seemed like an easy case. One body was exhumed with a few coins and two dog tags bearing Walker’s name. The 604th buried the remains in the new Lone Palm Cemetery, and made new tags identifying Walker’s resting place.

A year later, the remains designated as Walkers were exhumed again and brought to the Central Identification Laboratory in Hawaii. There, anthropologists were tasked with confirming the identities of the bodies prior to shipment back to relatives for final burial. For some reason – either carelessness or due to pressure from Walker’s powerful family – the remains were not properly vetted. The dog tag identity was accepted as correct, and the body was sent back to Lebanon, Tennessee for burial in a private cemetery.

In 2016, the remains of a Tarawa unknown – X-198 – were exhumed from the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. This individual had been an unusually tall man – over six feet high – and had a distinctive pattern of gold and silver fillings, and a slight overbite. His personal effects consisted of a single, rusted fountain pen.

Researchers noticed a disturbing number of similarities between X-198 and Captain Glenn Walker – including a near-perfect dental match. The truth finally came out: Walker and X-198 were one and the same. The remains buried in Lebanon, Tennessee, were those of another man.

Glenn Walker’s identification was officially confirmed on 21 March 2019, and in July of 2021, he was finally returned home for burial in  Lebanon, Tennessee.

In November 2022, the remains once buried in Walker’s grave were identified as Private Eugene P. Miller of the 10th Marines.

FINAL BURIAL
Wilson County Memorial Park, Lebanon, TN