Lieutenant Frank Douglas Walker
December 28, 1919 – April 28, 2013
Class: 43-F-SE
Graduation date: 6/30/1943
Unit: 332nd Fighter Group, 301st Fighter Squadron
Service # 080711
Frank Douglas Walker was born in Madison County, Kentucky to James S. and Mary Turner Walker.
After his graduation in 1938, Walker attended the West Virginia Institution for Technology for two years until the war began. He volunteered for military service and passed a written exam at the University of Kentucky that qualified him to enter flight training. On April 15, 1942 he entered training at Fort Thomas, Kentucky. When the Army later attempted to induct him into another program, he told Army officials about his exam score and he was sent to Tuskegee for flight training.
Walker flew 55 missions in the European Theatre escorting and defending bomber until he was sent back home after suffering burns to his hands and one side of his face when a P-47 he piloted caught fire during take-off.
Upon his return to the commonwealth and the city of Richmond, he continued to serve by becoming Richmond’s first African American mail carrier — and did so for 32 years.
In addition, Walker conducted masonry on the side, was an avid chess player, fly fisherman and mathematician.
Visit the Red Tail Virtual Museum to see the Lieutenant Frank Douglas Walkers mural
Sources:
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