Jimmie Walker

Staff Sergeant Jimmie Walker was killed in action on March 4, 1945 near Gemund, Germany during World War II.  He was 26 years old.

Jimmie Walker was born on July 24, 1918 in Henderson, North Carolina, the son of James Anderson Walker and Prudie Currin Walker. He was employed at the Henderson Cotton Mill prior to his induction into the armed forces.

SSgt Jimmie Walker was inducted into the U.S. Army in 1941 and was deployed to the European Theater of War in January, 1944 serving with the 38th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Division. 

The 38th Infantry Regiment, along with most of the 2nd Infantry Division, landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy on June 7, 1944, D-Day +1. They got into heavy action near the village of Trévières on the 10th of June.

The 38th saw heavy action throughout the Normandy Campaign, most notably at Hill 192 to the Northeast of the City of Saint-Lo. In late August 1944, the regiment was the center force of the 2nd Infantry Division's drive on the port city of Brest in Brittany with heavy street fighting encountered until the city's fall in early September 1944.

After a period of rest, the regiment was transferred to the Ardennes region of Belgium in October 1944, where limited operations were encountered east of the town of St.Vith against the fortified positions of the Siegfried Line, most notably in the Battle of Heartbreak Crossroads.

On December 16, 1944, much of the 38th Regiment was attacked as part of the opening phase of the Battle of the Bulge. Thanks to their efforts in holding the twin villages of Krinkelt and Rocherath, they enabled much of the 2nd and 99th Infantry Divisions to fall back to more defensible positions on the strategic high ground of the Elsenborn Ridge, which they would also hold for most of December 1944 into January 1945.

In February 1945, the Division attacked, recapturing lost ground, with the objective to cross the Rhine and push into Germany.   On March 4, 1945, the troops seized Gemund, a town near the German border, which had served as a crucial staging area for German forces during the Battle of the Bulge. Staff Sergeant Jimmie Walker was killed in action on March 4, 1945.

Staff Sergeant Jimmie Walker is buried in the Dillard Family Cemetery, Vance County, North Carolina.

Last edited: 8 June 2026