Captain Edward Glenn Walker, of Lebanon, Tenn., will finally be laid to rest in his hometown July 24, 2021, seventy-eight years after his death.
Walker was the son of the late Judge E. G. Walker and Bertha Talley Walker of Lebanon. He was killed in action November 20, 1943, when he led his company in the Battle of Tarawa, the first amphibious American offensive in the central Pacific region. Following his death, Walker was misidentified and buried twice on Betio Island and then in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Walker was born in Lebanon, September 27, 1917. He attended Lebanon High School and Cumberland University. He graduated from the University of Tennessee in 1939. He was enrolled in Harvard Law School when he volunteered to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corp. He was wounded at the Battle of Guadalcanal in 1942 and earned the Purple Heart. He was awarded another Purple Heart for his actions at Tarawa. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by two sisters, Kathryn McDowell and Frances Martin; and a brother, James Carver Walker.
He is survived by nieces and nephews, Mary Ann Walker (Donny) Bain, Gayle Martin Bentley, Glenn (Debra) Martin, Lane (Melinda) Martin, Jimmy (Linda) McDowell, Bill (Donna) McDowell, Jim (Sherrie) Walker, all of Lebanon, Tenn.; Kathryn Martin (Wayne) Gibson of Lawrenceville, Ga.; and Robert Walker of Huntington Beach, California.
A Funeral Service will be held at 3:00 p.m., Saturday, July 24, 2021, at Fairview Church, 1660 Leeville Pike, Lebanon, and will be followed by a Graveside Service with full military honors at Wilson County Memorial Gardens. Both are open to the public.
LIGON & BOBO FUNERAL HOME of Lebanon (615) 444-2142 www.ligonbobo.com
“His Lord said to him, Well done, you good and faithful servant…” Matthew 25:21.
Captain Edward Glenn Walker, Jr. was reported as Killed in Action while a member of E Company, 1st Battalion, 2nd Marines on 20 November 1943 on Tarawa. CAPT Walker’s body was reported recovered and identified on Tarawa by American Graves Registration Service (AGRS) personnel in 1946. At his mother’s request, what was believed to be CAPT Walker’s body was returned home for burial in his family plot in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1948. Due to unexplainable biometric discrepancies discovered by the Chief Rick Stone and Family Charitable “Foundation’s Random Incident Statistical Correlation System (RISC)”, Foundation investigators have long suspected that misidentifications of Tarawa casualties were committed by AGRS, the Central Identification Laboratory (CILHI), and the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command Laboratory (JPAC). Using only historical information and minimal biometric data, Foundation researchers determined that CAPT Walker was a “Most Likely Match” to seven “Unknowns” previously buried in Punchbowl, including X-198. These suspicions were confirmed on 21 March 2019 when Captain Edward Glenn Walker, Jr. was identifed as an “Unknown” previously buried in the Punchbowl Cemetery in Honolulu, Hawaii but which unknown was not provided. On 26 June 2020, despite a request by the Foundation under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2019, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) refused to provide any information on Captain Walker’s case. On 17 August 2020, DPAA finally confirmed that CAPT Walker was X-198, as predicted by Foundation researchers. Exactly who was misidentified as Captain Walker and buried in his family plot in Tennessee in 1947 has yet to be determined by DPAA.
Welcome home Marine! We share the joy of your family in your return for honored repose next to your Mother! God Bless you and thanks to ALL who never forgot you and your service to our country!