Hobart T. Walker, Jr. was born on July 9, 1921. After graduating high school in 1938, Hobart entered the University of Maryland. During his senior year and several months before Pearl Harbor, he left to join the Air Force, receiving his commission on his twenty-first birthday in the Army Ferry Command. He was promoted to Second Lieutenant in April 1943 and to Captain in July 1944. He flew a variety of planes, but apparently his last assignment was flying C-37 transport planes from India over the Himalayas into China starting in November 1944. C-37s, made by Lockheed, usually carried a crew of about 8 and were among a number of transport planes used in the war.

On 11 February 1945, Hobart was flying a plane loaded with gasoline over China when his plane was involved in a mid-air collision, causing the loss of all hands. Although originally buried in an American military cemetery in Kumning, Yunnan Province, China, his remains were returned to the United States in 1947 and are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

CPT Walker was one of over 2000 Americans who lost their lives defending China from their Japanese invaders from 1941-1945. He is commemorated on the The Monument to the Aviation Martyrs in the War of Resistance Against Japan in Nanjing, China.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com