Stanley Theodore Walker (July 23, 1922 – June 3, 2013) was an American

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

and Olympic biathlete.

Biography

Walker was born in

Peabody, Massachusetts Peabody () is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 54,481 at the time of the 2020 United States Census. Peabody is located in the North Shore region of Massachusetts, and is known for its rich industrial histo ...

and learned skiing in his native

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian provinces ...

hills.Military ski race tests endurance
The Stars and Stripes, January 828, 1948, p. 10. In the end of 1942, he was drafted from

Lynn, Massachusetts Lynn is the eighth-largest municipality in Massachusetts and the largest city in Essex County. Situated on the Atlantic Ocean, north of the Boston city line at Suffolk Downs, Lynn is part of Greater Boston's urban inner core. Settled by E ...

to the 86th Regiment of the

10th Mountain Division The 10th Mountain Division (Light Infantry) is a light infantry division in the United States Army based at Fort Drum, New York. Formerly designated as a mountain warfare unit, the division was the only one of its size in the US military to re ...

in Camp Hale, where he became ski instructor. After leaving the army, he was re-enlisted in November 1945. He served mainly as ski and climbing instructor until 1958, and also as mountain and winter warfare instructor. From 1947 to 1950 he participated in six airplane rescue missions.Walker, Stanley T.
in Randy W. Baumgardner: 10th Mountain Division, p. 179. At the

1948 Winter Olympics The 1948 Winter Olympics, officially known as the V Olympic Winter Games (german: V. Olympische Winterspiele; french: Ves Jeux olympiques d'hiver; it, V Giochi olimpici invernali; rm, V Gieus olimpics d'enviern) and commonly known as St. Moritz ...

he participated in the rank of a

sergeant Sergeant (abbreviated to Sgt. and capitalized when used as a named person's title) is a rank in many uniformed organizations, principally military and policing forces. The alternative spelling, ''serjeant'', is used in The Rifles and other uni ...

as member of the military patrol team. The U.S. military patrol squad was led by first lieutenant Donald Weihs, who broke his ski after the team completed more than three-fourths of the 21,5 miles course. Weihs had to trample the last six miles with it.Sweden takes Winter Olympics
Lodi News-Sentinel, February 9th, 1948. The team placed eighth of eight. After the games, Walker was on mission in the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

for 14 month. He participated at another ski race in Switzerland in 1957, and was member of the U.S. army biathlon team of 1958. Until his retirement in December 1963, he was also first sergeant in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

(Germany) and advisor to Reserve unit in

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

. Afterwards he moved to

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

. After his retirement in 1963 he was a letter carrier in Colorado Springs, Colorado for over 20 years. He died on June 3, 2013, at the age of 90.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Stanley T. 1922 births 2013 deaths American military patrol (sport) runners American male biathletes Olympic biathletes for the United States Military patrol competitors at the 1948 Winter Olympics United States Army non-commissioned officers Sportspeople from Peabody, Massachusetts Track and field athletes from Massachusetts United States Army personnel of World War II United States Army personnel of the Korean War