Ed Walker was an
American veteran of
World War II,
businessman,
publisher and
writer. Walker was the last surviving member of
Castner's Cutthroats, a regiment consisting of just sixty-five men who performed
reconnaissance missions in the
Aleutian Islands during
World War II.
[1][2] Castner's Cutthroats was the unofficial name of the 1st Alaskan Combat Intelligence Platoon.
(August 28, 1917 – October 28, 2011)
Early life
Ed Walker was born on August 28, 1917, in
San Juan Bautista, California to
Brayden Richards and Helga Martha Smith.
[1] He enlisted in the
United States Army in 1937 and was stationed for three years in the
Territory of Hawaii.
[1] He soon became interested in
Alaska through reading a library book about the territory and an article published in
The Saturday Evening Post.
[1] He reenlisted in the Army with the specific goal of being transferred to Alaska.
[1]
Castner's Cutthroats
The last three surviving members of Castner's Cutthroats - Ed Walker (left), Earl Acuff (center), and Billy Buck at the
Anchorage Museum in 2008.
Walker was stationed with the Army
infantry at
Chilkoot Barracks, also known as
Fort William H. Seward, which was the only
U.S. military base in the
Territory of Alaska at the time he arrived.
[1] Walker submitted several applications, before finally being transferred to
Fort Richardson, now known as
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
[1] There he joined a group of elite
Alaskan Scouts called
Castner's Cutthroats, named after Col.
Lawrence Castner, an Army intelligence officer who formed the regiment.
[1]
Walker trained with Castner's Cutthroats, who carried their provisions
and lived off what they could find in the Alaskan wilderness, such as
seafood.
[1] Walker was trained in
surveying and
Morse code.
[3] The sixty-five men served in reconnaissance throughout the Aleutian Islands during World War II, including the
Battle of the Aleutian Islands.
The Japanese forces occupied the islands of
Attu and
Kiska the day before Walker's 25th birthday in 1942, beginning the
Aleutian Islands Campaign.
[4] Walker and thirty-six of the scouts were stationed in
Anchorage at the time, when they received erroneous reports of a Japanese attack on the city.
[4] The next morning, the members of Castner's Cutthroats sailed on a yacht from Anchorage to the Aleutian Islands.
[4] However, the United States Navy commandeered the yacht at
Kodiak.
[4] Walker and twenty-one other Alaskan Scouts then boarded a submarine, which they used to make their first landing at
Adak Island.
[4] Walker was armed with a
Browning Automatic Rifle, which meant that he was among the first of the Cutthroats to make landfall at Adak and secure the surrounding beach.
[4]
However, a two-man American boat next to their submarine exploded just
offshore from Adak. Walker recalled the accident in a 2008 interview, "
We
got about 200 yards from the submarine, and the boat blew up. It put
both of us in the drink...The boat was about to go to the bottom, and we
didn't want to go with it. We managed to stay afloat, and luckily the
submarine, rather than turning to the left and going back into the
Pacific, it turned inland," Walker continued, explaining a line was
thrown to the scouts as it passed because the submarine was unable to
stop. I hung on to that, and of course we were at the fantail of the
sub, and there's a series of welded pipes that protect the propeller and
we each got a hold of one of them, and every time we went through a
wave, we just stopped breathing and closed our eyes and came back
up...They sent a man out, and they had to crawl because everything on
the submarine was slippery. They crawled out and helped us to get our
gear, because we still had our packs and we went on in to the sub."
[4]
Post-war career
Walker settled permanently in southern Alaska following World War II.
He and another man, Con Frank, co-founded the Arctic Block Construction
Co. in 1947.
[1] Together, Walker and Frank constructed most of the first permanent buildings at
Eielson Air Force Base and
Ladd Army Airfield during the bases' early years.
[1] He also worked in
Good News Bay at a
mining facility.
[1] Walker was a proponent of
Alaskan statehood during the 1940s and 1950s.
[1]
In 1960, Walker moved to
Valdez, Alaska, where he worked as a home builder.
[2] Once the
1964 Alaska earthquake struck the area, Walker switched his focus to the reconstruction of the city. He was elected to the Valdez
city council during the rebuilding efforts and the construction of the Trans-Alaska pipeline through the region.
[2] His last major Valdez construction project was the former Village Inn Motel, which is now the Mountain Sky Hotel and Suites.
[2]
Walker published his own
newspaper, called
Walker's Weekly, while living in
Delta Junction, Alaska.
[1] He authored several books, including writings on his experiences with Castner's Cutthroats. He was interviewed by writer
Jim Rearden, who included Walker in his book,
Castner’s Cutthroats: Saga of the Alaska Scouts.
[1]
Walker also wrote an eclectic mix of books concentrating on his other
life experiences. He wrote the nonfiction historical book,
Twenty Women Who Made America Great, following the death of his longtime wife, Frances.
[1] A
hip replacement patient, Walker wrote
Hip-Hip Hooray! on life before and after the procedure.
[1]
In 2008 and 2009, photos and quotes from Walker and other members of the regiment appeared in an exhibit,
Castner’s Cutthroats: Forgotten Warriors, which opened at the
Anchorage Museum.
[1][4]
The last three surviving members of Castner’s Cutthroats - Walker,
retired Brig. Gen. Earl Acuff, and William "Billy" Buck - gathered at
the opening of the
exhibition on September 28, 2008.
[4][3] Walker was also interviewed for a
documentary on the Alaskan Scouts, which aired on the
History Channel.
[1]
Personal life
Walker met his future wife, Frances P. Walker;, while she was employed by the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, who were constructing the
Alaska Highway at the time.
[2] The couple married at a ceremony in Fort Richardson on April 29, 1944.
[2] They had four children - Bob, Suzy, Kathleen and Bill. The family moved to
Fairbanks, Alaska, after World War II.
[2] Frances Walker worked as a writer for the
Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
[2] They moved to
Valdez, Alaska, in 1960.
[2]
Walker resided at the Alaska Veterans and Pioneers Home in
Palmer, Alaska, for most of the last quarter century of his life.
[1] He died at
Providence Alaska Medical Center in
Anchorage, Alaska, on October 28, 2011, at the age of 94.
[1] He was survived by three of his children, Bob Walker, Suzy Walker and Bill Walker.
[2]
To see more of who died in 2011
click here
Tanner was born in Fairview, Utah,[1] into a Mormon family.[3] His paternal grandfather, David Dan Tanner, had immigrated to Utah in 1848.[3] Tanner was the fourth of John and Lois Ann Tanner's five children. Vasco M., one of Tanner's brothers, was also a naturalist who taught at BYU.[4]
