Orien Walker was born on September 27, 1933, in Boston, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the U.S. Naval Reserve on February 12, 1951, and received an honorable discharge on September 26, 1954. He then attended the University of New Hampshire, where he received his commission as a 2d Lt in the U.S. Army through the Army ROTC program there on January 29, 1957, going on active duty beginning May 30, 1957. Lt Walker next attended basic infantry officer training at Fort Benning, Georgia, and at Fort Riley, Kansas, from May 1957 to January 1958, followed by service as a Platoon Leader, Assistant S-2, and Executive Officer with Company B, Company C, and Combat Support Company, 2nd Battle Group of the 2nd Infantry Regiment at Fort Riley and in West Germany from January 1958 to August 1962. After attending additional training with the Infantry School at Fort Benning and at Fort Hood, Texas, Capt Walker served as S-3 for Air with Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion of the 46th Infantry Regiment at Fort Hood from July to October 1963, and then as Commanding Officer of Company B, 1st Battalion of the 46th Infantry Regiment at Fort Hood from October 1963 to May 1964. His next assignment was as Battalion Adjutant and then Battalion Executive Officer with 1st Battalion of the 46th Infantry Regiment from June to July 1964. He then attended the Military Assistance Training Advisors Course at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from July to October 1964, before serving as an advisor to the South Vietnamese Army with the U.S. Military Assistance Command in South Vietnam from November 1964 until he was captured and taken as a Prisoner of War on May 23, 1965. After spending 258 days in captivity, Maj Walker died in captivity at the hands of his Viet Cong captors on February 4, 1966. His remains have never been returned to the United States.