Laura Margaret Walker was born June 16th, 1981, into a military family. She attended ten schools, lived in 18 cities and three countries, and graduated in 1999 from SHAPE American High School in Belgium. An involved student to say the least, Walker participated in Club Beyond, Model UN, and National Honor Society and also had varsity letters in soccer, basketball, and volleyball, even being selected to play on the “All Europe” soccer team in her senior year of high school.
After graduating high school, Walker attended West Point where she exhibited exceptional leadership as a Cadet First Sergeant and Cadet Command Sergeant Major, and she was elected as the Class of 2003 class secretary. With ambition that only grew as she accomplished her dreams, First Lieutenant Walker also graduated from Air Assault School in 2001 as a cadet, interned with the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee over the summer.
Walker also played handball with both the United States Junior Women’s Handball Team in the Pan American Games and with the West Point Women’s Handball Team, the latter of which she served as a captain on, and which progressed to a national collegiate championship. She once had the opportunity to play with the Olympic handball team, but instead she chose to serve. In 2003, she graduated with her bachelor’s degree in political science and systems engineering and was subsequently commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers.
In January of 2004, First Lieutenant Walker arrived at Fort Lewis and was assigned to the 555th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade and deployed to Iraq in support of the 4th Infantry Division, serving in Iraq until April of 2004. When First Lieutenant Walker returned to Fort Lewis, she was reassigned as a vertical construction platoon leader in the 864th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy). In March of 2005, she re-deployed to Afghanistan with the First Platoon of the same battalion.
First Lieutenant Walker’s platoon was said to have “expertly constructed force protection, mobility, and life support facilities, and performed quality assurance for local national contracts at Forward Operating Bases Salerno and Guyan.” In July 2005, First Lieutenant Walker was assigned as the Executive Officer of her battalion’s Headquarters Company. She was also assigned to a two-month tour as the Task Force Pacemaker Public Affairs Officer. This position entailed her writing news articles that were published in newspapers like The Afghanistan Freedom Watch, Defend America, and The Northwest Guardian. She served as the editor of The Pacemaker, the Task Force’s newsletter which is distributed to Task Force soldiers, their families, and “Pacemaker’s higher echelons.”
On August 18th, 2005, First Lieutenant Walker was killed in Delak, Afghanistan when an improvised explosive device detonated under her Humvee. She was 24. Walker was survived by her parents, her two brothers, and her sister. Sergeant Robert G. Davis was also killed.
First Lieutenant Laura M. Walker is remembered not only as a soldier, leader, and athlete, but as a “strong person, spiritually, physically, and mentally,” who inspired those around her to be their best. She was a loving sister to her siblings, a beautiful singer, and an amazing writer. She loved her family and her friends, and her dedication to her faith grew every day. She loved all holidays, especially Christmas. First Lieutenant Walker and Ed Peskie, with whom she had shared years of companionship, were planning on getting engaged the following summer. She treasured time learning to cook with her mother and going on runs while talking to her father. First Lieutenant Walker was a bright light in the lives of everyone who had the fortune of knowing her.
First Lieutenant Laura M. Walker is buried at the U.S. Military Academy Post Cemetery in West Point, New York.
Sources:
https://www.west-point.org/users/usma2003/60262/
https://thefallen.militarytimes.com/army-1st-lt-laura-m-walker/1047430
http://veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.php?recordID=1497
https://hopeunseen.com/stories-of-hope/fallen-classmate-first-lieutenant-laura-m-walker/
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