#VeteranOfTheDay Army Veteran Kyle Dean Walker

Kyle Dean Walker attained the rank of Staff Sergeant in the Utah Army National Guard’s 145^th Field Artillery Regiment before his death while scuba diving on May 23, 2022. Walker was an Eagle Scout growing up, and outdoors activities like hunting, climbing, longboarding and skydiving were among the things he loved most. He enlisted in the Utah National Guard in 2008 before graduating from Riverton High School.

Walker completed basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, advanced individual training at the Aberdeen Proving Grounds, Maryland, where he focused on the 45B school of small arms and artillery. He served in the 115^th Maintenance Company as a towed artillery systems repairer, working his way up from a howitzer driver and ammunition handler to ammunition team chief, then ammunition section chief and paladin gunner. In 2016, he transferred to A Battery “Animals” 1^st Battalion 145^th Field Artillery, where he served as a cannoneer in Brigham City, Utah.

In 2022, Walker was promoted to staff sergeant in Spanish Fork, Utah. His work outside the military earned him a Military Outstanding Volunteer Service Medal, and he was posthumously awarded the Meritorious Service Medal for “outstanding leadership, guidance and mentorship to many during his service.”

Walker’s family said that he was passionate and driven, putting “110% into his hobbies and goals.” He loved animals to the point where he would drop everything to help a sick pet. He was vice president of Sandy’s Haven, a Utah animal sanctuary and wildlife rehabilitation center that provided education and event-visiting animals. He also worked as an animal keeper for Zootah at Willow Park Zoo in 2015 and 2016, and for Yellowstone’s Bear World in 2018, where he got to take care of bear cubs.

Walker worked as a Veterinary Technician at Stone Ridge Veterinary Clinic from 2019 to 2021. He supported raptor rehabilitation, fostering exotic animals and birds of prey, as well as keeping his own falcons for falconry.

He continually expanded his education, along with his volunteer work, going to Utah State University for wildlife science; Ashworth College for professional gunsmithing; Bridgerland Technical College for veterinary technician certification; Oregon State University for zoology and marine biology; and the University of Maryland for general studies.

Involved in Freemasonry since 2017, Walker became a master the next year, and just prior to his death, he was elected to the leadership role of president for William A. Powell Sr. Chapter No. 556, the local chapter of the National Sojourners, “the Masonic military Veterans’ fraternal order in America.”

Walker was interred with full military honors at Camp Williams Cemetery in Bluffdale, Utah, on June 2, 2022.

We honor his service.

Writer: Michelle A. Shade

Researcher: Raphael Romea

Graphic Designer: Kiki Kelley