The World War II veteran sat and looked down at the Bronze Star medal while his son knelt beside him and looked up. “I’m very proud of you, Dad,” he said softly.
A few minutes earlier, Herbert Walker, 86, of Vancouver had been cracking jokes about the government’s long delay in honoring his bravery on Feb. 20, 1945.
Then U.S. Rep. Brian Baird, D-Vancouver, actually presented the medal and asked Walker if he had anything to say.
“I’m too choked up to do it,” said Walker, sitting down.
Although silent, Walker held everyone’s attention. Baird, family and friends watched, spoke softly and waited, and the humor returned. “If they had given this to me earlier, they might have had to stop the war,” Walker cracked.
Walker was among the untold thousands of World War II soldiers who left the service after the war in 1945 without getting the medals they earned.
On Friday, at Baird’s district office in the O.O. Howard House in Vancouver, Walker received the honor set aside for distinguished acts in combat.
“We’ve done this for a number of veterans, and it’s one of the highest privileges we have,” Baird said.
According to military records, Walker’s unit engaged with German troops in the area of Binscheid, Germany. U.S. infantrymen were forced to withdraw, leaving 22 wounded soldiers behind.
Exposing himself to German fire, Walker fired a machine gun from a Jeep to provide cover for the evacuation of the wounded.
When Walker went to reload, the heated gun barrel fell against his left arm, searing the flesh.
When he removed his helmet to wipe sweat off his brow, he pulled off a piece of his scalp. Shrapnel had penetrated the helmet and stuck to his skull.
Walker put a handkerchief over the wound, put the helmet back on and kept fighting.
“Mr. Walker put his life on the line to save 22 of his fellow soldiers, and it’s taken our government a long time to properly recognize him, but we’re going to do that today,” Baird said.
Walker never got a Purple Heart, though he’d like to. “If the Purple Heart takes as long to get (as the Bronze Star), I might not be here,” he joked.
Walker, who worked for Boise Cascade Corp. in Vancouver for 44 years bleaching paper, didn’t know he had been awarded the Bronze Star until a couple of years ago.
The discovery began on a windy day. Walker walked outside and a discarded newspaper wrapped around his leg.
There was a story in the paper about then-U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, R-Spokane, pinning on D-Day veterans the Jubilee of Liberty medal, an honor authorized by the French government in 1994.
Walker was among the second wave that landed on Utah Beach on June 6, 1944.
His daughter, Kathleen Walker of Vancouver, took Walker’s discharge papers to a copy shop in Vancouver. Kathleen Walker says she met a veteran there who pointed out that medals due Walker were listed on the papers.
With the help of Baird’s office, Kathleen Walker claimed her father’s medal from the National Personnel Records Center.
“He was proud of his tour of duty,” she said. “He always talked to his (seven) kids about it. I even did a report about him in high school.”
After Walker got the Bronze Star, Kathleen Walker wiped away tears and so did son John Walker of Vancouver, who knelt by his father.
Herbert Walker told a couple of war stories humorous incidents from Army days. But the Bronze Star isn’t given for humorous incidents.
Asked what went through his mind while looking at the medal, he mumbled “pain” and halted and went silent.
Caption: Herbert Walker shares a tearful moment with his son, John Walker, after receiving the Bronze Star 60 years late. * Herbert Walker helped save 22 wounded soldiersin Germany during World War II * Herbert Walker’s Bronze Star, awarded for bravery in 1945.
