https://dpaa-mil.sites.crmforce.mil/dpaaProfile?id=a0Jt000001EK8z9EAD

2d Lt GENE F WALKER

Unit 32 REGIMENT 3 ARMORED DIVISION

Country of Loss Germany

Home of Record IN

UNITED STATES ARMY

Accounted For 07/21/2023

On July 21, 2023, the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA) identified the remains of Second Lieutenant Gene F. Walker, missing from World War II.

Second Lieutenant Walker entered the U.S. Army from Indiana and served in Company H, 3rd Battalion, 32nd Armored Regiment, 3rd Armored Division. This unit fought in Battle of the Hürtgen Forest, one of the bloodiest engagements of World War II. Between September 1944 and February 1945, the battle grew to involve approximately 200,000 troops, with tens of thousands of casualties on both sides. On November 24, 1944, 2LT Walker was killed when his tank was hit by enemy fire at Hücheln, Germany. According to witnesses, the vehicle caught fire, preventing recovery of his remains during the ongoing combat in the area. On December 3, an unknown set of remains was buried in an American military cemetery. Records from the time indicated that the remains belonged to a member of 2LT Walker's unit, but no recovery location was recorded. In August 2021, the Department of Defense and the American battle Monuments Commission exhumed these remains and sent them to a DPAA laboratory for further study. The laboratory analysis and the totality of the circumstantial evidence available established that the remains were those of 2LT Walker.

Second Lieutenant Walker is memorialized on the Walls of the Missing at the Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/remains-of-world-war-ii-tank-commander-laid-to-rest-in-san-diego/3417281/

Gene F Walker