'Bulldog Johnny' MacArthur's Korea Stalwart

In September 1948, Lt. Gen. Walton Harris Walker, 58, took over command of the Eighth Army on occupation duty in Japan from his predecessor, Robert Eichelberger, a former West Point superintendent and devotee of Allied Supreme Commander General Douglas MacArthur. The belligerent-looking Walker's four-division command comprised the U.S. Army's understrength 1st Cavalry and 7th, 24th, and 25th Infantry Divisions (“Tropic Lightning”). Noted his then-chief of staff, Colonel Eugene M. Landrum, the general had come to Japan “anticipating a nice, cushy time, beautiful quarters and easy duty” before his eventual retirement. He had earned it, having fought during the Mexican Expedition against bandit Pancho Villa, the Germans in World War I, and the Germans again in World War II as part of the Third Army of his mentor, General George S. Patton, Jr.