The testimony of Maj. Gen. Edwin A. Walker was taken at 4:15 p.m., on
July 23, 1964, in the office of the U.S. attorney, 301 Post Office
Building, Bryan and Ervay Streets, Dallas, Tex., by Mr. Wesley J.
Liebeler, assistant counsel of the President's Commission.
Mr. LIEBELER. Let the record indicate that General Walker is being
represented by Clyde J. Watts of Oklahoma City.
Would you rise, general, and raise your right hand? Do you solemnly
swear that the testimony you are about to give will be the truth, the
whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
General WALKER. I do.
Mr. LIEBELER. Please sit down. My name is Wesley J. Liebeler. I am an
attorney on the President's Commission investigating the assassination
of President John F. Kennedy. I have been authorized to take your
testimony by the Commission pursuant to authority granted to the
Commission by President Johnson's Executive Order No. 11130, dated
November 29, 1963, and the joint resolution of Congress No. 137.
Pursuant to the Commission's rules of procedure, you are entitled
to be represented by counsel. As the record now indicates, you are
represented by counsel, General Watts. I understand that you are
appearing voluntarily before the Commission in response to its request
to give testimony touching upon certain matters relating to Lee Harvey
Oswald and to the assassination of President Kennedy. Is that correct?
General WALKER. That is correct.
Mr. LIEBELER. I would like to have the record show that prior to the
commencement of this deposition, a discussion between General Watts
and General Walker and myself was had in which we reached an agreement
under which a copy of the transcript of the testimony which will be
taken here today will be made available here at the office of the U.S.
attorney for examination by General Walker and by his counsel. They
will be given an opportunity to make whatever changes in the testimony
may be necessary, so that the transcript reflects accurately what
happened here today.
We also agreed and confirmed in a telephone conversation with Mr.
Rankin, the general counsel for the Commission, that as soon as a
copy can reasonably be made available, within 2 or 3 days after this
transcript has been signed by General Walker and approved by me, a
copy of the transcript will be made available to General Walker at his
expense. It may be purchased from the court reporter here in Dallas. We
will make whatever arrangements may seem proper at that time to give
the general a corrected copy. Would you state your full name for the
record, please?
General WALKER. Edwin A. Walker. A stands for Anderson.
Mr. LIEBELER. What is your address?
General WALKER. 4011 Turtle Creek Boulevard, Dallas, Tex.
Mr. LIEBELER. How long have you lived there?
General WALKER. I believe since December of 1961 or January of 1962. I
am not sure of the month I moved in.
Mr. LIEBELER. I don't think we have to indicate a great deal of your
background for the record, since I think we all know who you are, but
you are a retired major general, are you not?
General WALKER. No. I am former major general, now resigned from the
U.S. Army.
Mr. LIEBELER. You resigned from the Army. Where were you originally
born and raised, general?
General WALKER. At Center Point, Tex. I was born in 1909, November 10.
Center Point is Kerr County. It is C-e-n-t-e-r P-o-i-n-t, Kerr County,
Tex. That is 60 miles west of San Antonio.
Mr. LIEBELER. Since your resignation from the Army and your taking up
residence in Dallas, you have been active, have you not, in various
political endeavors here in Dallas and throughout the United States?
General WALKER. Patriotic and political endeavors.
Mr. LIEBELER. It is my understanding that on the evening of April 10,
1963, some person fired a shot at you while you were in your home on
Turtle Creek Boulevard; is that correct?
General WALKER. That is correct.
Mr. LIEBELER. Would you tell us the circumstances surrounding that
event, as you can now recall them?
General WALKER. I was sitting behind my desk. It was right at 9
o'clock, and most of the lights were on in the house and the shades
were up. I was sitting down behind a desk facing out from a corner,
with my head over a pencil and paper working on my income tax when I
heard a blast and a crack right over my head.
Mr. LIEBELER. What did you do then?
General WALKER. I thought--we had been fooling with the screens on the
house and I thought that possibly somebody had thrown a firecracker,
that it exploded right over my head through the window right behind me.
Since there is a church back there, often there are children playing
back there. Then I looked around and saw that the screen was not out,
but was in the window, and this couldn't possibly happen, so I got up
and walked around the desk and looked back where I was sitting and I
saw a hole in the wall which would have been to my left while I was
sitting to my right as I looked back, and the desk was catercornered
in the corner up against this wall. I noticed there was a hole in the
wall, so I went upstairs and got a pistol and came back down and went
out the back door, taking a look to see what might have happened.
Mr. LIEBELER. Did you find anything outside that you could relate to
this attack on you?
General WALKER. No, sir; I couldn't. As I crossed a window coming
downstairs in front, I saw a car at the bottom of the church alley just
making a turn onto Turtle Creek. The car was unidentifiable. I could
see the two back lights, and you have to look through trees there, and
I could see it moving out. This car would have been about at the right
time for anybody that was making a getaway.
Mr. LIEBELER. Now as I understand it, there is an alley that runs
directly at the rear of your house; is that correct?
General WALKER. Yes, sir.
Mr. LIEBELER. Does that alley run directly into Turtle Creek Boulevard,
or does it join with another alley?
General WALKER. No, sir; it joins with another alley, and it joins with
the street called Avondale.