Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 2, 1993 TAG: 9311020112
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: C-2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DALLAS LENGTH: Short
The retired major general died Sunday in the Dallas home he bought after Kennedy removed him from his command in Germany in 1961 for distributing literature to troops.
He died apparently of lung disease, said Joe McGuire, an investigator for the Dallas County medical examiner's office.
In Warren Commission interviews, Oswald's wife said he fired through the window of Walker's home in April 1963 with the mail-order rifle believed to have been used to kill Kennedy in Dallas seven months later.
Marina Oswald told the commission her husband had planned the attack for two months. The bullet passed near Walker's head, and Walker saved the glass as a memento.
In 1957, Walker appeared on the cover of Time magazine as a hero after he led federal troops integrating the schools in Little Rock, Ark.
In fact, Walker led the troops only after Gen. Dwight Eisenhower refused his resignation, historian Don E. Carleton, author of "Red Scare," told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
"He did not want to carry out that order," Carleton said. "He did not believe in racial integration."
Walker was known to fly the American flag upside down as a sign of distress over what he perceived to the communist leanings of Kennedy and other government officials, Payne said.
Walker was active in the John Birch Society and ran for governor against Gov. John Connally in 1962.
Walker never married. Survivors include a nephew.
Memo: NOTE: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.