Show Walker shows a different perspective through his war-related war literary works Clint Johnson Contributing Writer Thirty years of military service earns a person a little slice of history according to Paul Walker who spent one of those years as an armored cavalry platoon leader during the Vietnam War with 65 men and 10 armored vehicles under his command It was an intense year he said We saw an awful lot lotof lotof lotof of combat When the tour was over and Walker returned to the United States he discovered that his platoons platoon's actions hadnot hadnot had hadnot not been faithfully recorded for posterity In fact they had hardly been acknowledged at all All the books movies articles only mentioned infantry trudging through jungle and swamps he said There was no mention of armor Walker decided to ensure that he and his mens men's experiences experiences experiences were accurately record record- ed As the history books had omitted their contribution he wrote his own Jungle Dragon The release of the book didn't gain Walker six figure royalties or a nationwide nationwide nationwide nation nation- wide book tour it earned him something much more pre pre- cious I got calls from unit members who were very grateful that someone had told their story They'd talk for hours I couldn't get them off the phone he said So started Walkers Walker's publishing publishing publishing pub pub- lishing career Im basically a historian he said When I Isee Isee Isee see something that has been distorted or omitted that's what I try to look into a little deeper bring out the truth correct the record A visit to Fort Riley Kan and the discovery of the slim memoir of a civil war cavalryman cavalryman cavalryman caval caval- ryman prompted Walker to write The Cavalry Battle That Saved the Union the story of how General Custer intercepted an attempt by Robert E. E Lees Lee's cavalry to take the Union lines in the rear which might have shown the Confederacy victory at atthe atthe atthe the Battle of Gettysburg People say that Lees Lee's genius faded at Gettysburg That didn't happen Lee didn't falter the third day he did have a workable plan Walker said His next book was the result of a visit to the Smithsonian Museum in New NewYork NewYork NewYork York and his viewing of the Enola Gay Mounted on the plane was a plaque that Walker remembers stating This is the plane that dropped the atomic bomb and caused a needless slaughter of the Japanese people Like many military veterans Walker took exception to this statement and set about refuting it in his Dilemma Estimates say dropping the bomb saved millions of lives Walker said At least one million American and maybe six to seven million Japanese lives I dont don't know how the Smithsonian the keeper of our history get it so wrong but they did This tendency to pick apart historically significant people and events simply to create conflict and criticize bothers Walker a great deal It seems like some writers want to do everything they can to destroy our heroes to pull people down I think we have some authors that do that kind of writing who do not do very deep research This does not mean that historically historical historical- ly significant people and events cannot be represented accurately he stresses such as showing Thomas Walker continued on page 3 Walker history sheds new light on war continued from front page Jeffersons Jefferson's intimate relationship relationship relation relation- relationship ship with his slave Sally SaBy Heming However Walker insists I think frailties and faults are looked at more than the accomplishments I 1 think we tend to dw dwell ll on those so I 1 try to put things in the proper con con- text As someone who has studied and contributed to history Walker understands that being great or important does not mean being perfect land and that people shouldn't II it f i expect t otherwise Walker is concerned about this culture of indiscriminate finding fault-finding today as well One of history's many lessons our nation has forgotten forgotten forgotten for for- gotten is that In the darkest hours we shouldn't lose faith and confidence in our lead lead- ers ers Walker is particularly troubled by the recent public criticism of the president and defense department by five retired generals It isn't the message he disagrees with as much as the means He describes the public cri criticism crit- crit as as' M Misguided ed The accusations dont don't wash In order to become a general officer you have to be someone someone someone some some- one who isn't afraid to stand standup standup standup up and show some moral courage and speak up to your superiors If you cant can't do that or you dont don't do that maybe theres there's been a mistake mistake mistake mis mis- take in making you a general officer History is made by courageous people according according according accord accord- ing to Walker who believes in taking a stand while in positions of responsibility is revised and lost by bye B people e Ie shouting dut out ut after th the I JI Jh H fact lac T he e trul truth IS 0 ot tt ten quiet t This Walker understands is why it needs to be recorded accurately before it is lost Walkers Walker's next book MacArthur Loss of an Army will tell the story of Douglas MacArthurs MacArthur's defense of the Philippines in WWII He hopes after a trip to the Philippines to collect testimonials that the book will be ready for publication in the summer of 2007 |