Walter Walker (British Army officer)
| Sir Walter Walker | |
|---|---|
| Born |
11 November 1912 British India |
| Died | 12 August 2001 (aged 88) |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom
|
| Service/branch |
 British Army
|
| Years of service | 1933–1972 |
| Rank | General |
| Unit |
Sherwood Foresters 1/8th Gurkha Rifles |
| Commands held | 99th Gurkha Infantry Brigade 17th Gurkha Division Commander British Troops Borneo Northern Command Allied Forces Northern Europe |
| Battles/wars |
North West Frontier Second World War Indonesia–Malaysia confrontation |
| Awards |
Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order & Two Bars Mentioned in Despatches |
General Sir Walter Colyear Walker KCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars (11 November 1912 – 12 August 2001) was a senior British Army officer who served as Commander-in-Chief of Allied Forces Northern Europe from 1969 until his retirement in 1972. He commanded the 4/8th Gurkhas Rifles against the Japanese Army in Burma during the Second World War. He commanded the 1/6 Gurkha Rifles from 1950 to 1953 and he commanded the 99th Gurkha Infantry Brigade Group from 1957 to 1959 during the Malayan Emergency. Walker was Director of Operations in Borneo from 1962 to 1965 during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation. In retirement, he attracted some controversy by publicizing his views on the political situation in Britain during the mid 1970s.
Walker was born on a tea plantation in British India to a military family, one of four sons. At the end of the First World War Walker and his family moved back to Britain and he was sent to Blundell's School in Devon. Even as a child Walker had a militaristic streak; in his memoirs Fighting On he writes that he ordered the previously "idle, unpatriotic, unkempt" pupils into "showing the school what smartness on the parade ground meant". His teachers became alarmed at Walker's strict behaviour and tried to explain the difference between "driving" and "leading".
Walker then went to the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and in 1933 after a short attachment to the Sherwood Foresters he joined the 1/8th Gurkha Rifles in Quetta which his grandfather had formerly commanded. In 1935 he survived the major earthquake that hit that city. The battalion moved to Assam in the aftermath where it remained until early 1939, Walker was appointed the battalion's adjutant in 1938.
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