I was a movieholic, admitted Tucker, whose first deployment was under the tactical, speed-infused command of future Commandant of the Marine Corps, Lt. Col. Al Gray, operating from the amphibious warship, USS Inchon. Growing up in Woodruff, South Carolina, it was Saturday matinees with Jeff Chandler in Merrill s Marauders, Van Heflin in Battle Cry, John Wayne in Flying Leathernecks and Jack Webb in The D.I., he said.
After 22 years in the Corps that included a climb from private to the NCO ranks and, finally, the railroad tracks he earned as a brand new captain, the Desert Storm vet retired and launched into a very successful endeavor producing quality videos for Marines and their families.
But it s more than just a street with a name.
Many don t know that the road, which intersects with US Highway 441 near the Eustis/Tavares line, was named after Lake County’s first and only astronaut.
Working toward his Eagle Scout rank, 17-year-old James Feuerstein of Mount Dora has made it his mission to create awareness and build a memorial in honor of Walker.
“I’m going to be building a memorial for David Walker, who is an astronaut from Lake County, the only one so far,” Feuerstein said. “He’s also an Eagle Scout and I’ve always been interested in the space industry and just wanted to honor a Lake County hero. I’m finding that a lot of people don’t know who he is.”
Daily Commercial readers met when former editor Tom McNiff introduced LZ LAKEHAWK in June of 2018.
But as my crusty, crazy-like-a-fox mustang infantry officer pal, Steve Luhrsen, is fond of saying: You don t have to invent Buzzard. He already exists.
Yessir, he does.
Born in Houston in the shadow of NASA ground control, the boy was born to fly. Young Kurt Lowell Miller, Sr. really wanted to be an astronaut. Badly.
He applied for the program multiple times and pursued every possible venue for getting in through a side door by competing for scholarships in long-term space-study tracks, but finally settled on pursuing a degree in safety engineering from Texas A&M – an Aggie, doncha know.