Flag Flies in Honor of Holmdel Native’s Retirement from U.S. Navy

A special ceremony was held on April 27, 2017 outside of Holmdel Town Hall, in Memorial Circle, to honor Captain Owens Walker, who grew up in Holmdel, NJ and is retiring from the US Navy. He is a highly decorated officer whose latest assignment is as a professor at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis. As part of his retirement, the captain was given the opportunity to choose where an American flag should be flown in his honor and he requested that it be flown at Holmdel Town Hall on April 27. Afterwards, the flag was presented to him by members of the Holmdel Township Police Department Honor Guard in a ceremony attended by representatives of the Holmdel Township Committee, Holmdel Township Public Schools, Holmdel Township Recreation, and other members of the community.

Mayor Greg Buontempo proudly introduced Capt. Owens and gave those gathered a synopsis of the honoree’s impressive biography. Born in Washington, DC, as the son of a naval aviator, Owens Walker was raised in Holmdel and graduated from Holmdel High School in 1983. He later earned his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from Cornell University.

Following initial qualification in the P-3C Orion, he was assigned to Patrol Squadron 44, arriving in Brunswick, Maine. He deployed to Keflavik, Iceland, to fly anti-submarine patrols. Transferring to Norfolk, VA, Capt. Walker reported aboard the aircraft carrier CVN U.S.S. John C. Stennis in September 1995. A plant-owner, he commissioned the ship in December 1997 and participated in the initial sea and flight deck trials. As the catapult and arresting gear officer, he was responsible for more than 19,000 mishap-free launch and recoveries, including the initial sea trial of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet fighter aircraft.

Capt. Walker returned to the VP Navy in September 1998 as a department head with the Skinny Dragons of Patrol Squadron 4, home-ported in Kaneohe, Hawaii. Serving as the officer-in-charge of a remote 90-person detachment in Masirah, Oman, he coordinated and scheduled all VP operations in the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Fox. Subsequently serving as the squadron operations officer, he guided the 385-person squadron on its Battle “E” winning Seventh Fleet deployment. Following this operational tour, he was assigned to the OPNAV Staff in the Pentagon in October 2000, where he served as the department head of aviation budget and programming for the Air Warfare Directorate.

Capt. Walker returned to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA in August 2004 as the program officer for the computer science department and was selected for the Permanent Military Professor Program in April 2006. He entered the Ph.D Program in Monterey and earned his Doctor of Philosophy in electrical engineering in September 2009. He currently is assigned as a permanent military professor on the faculty of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis. He has served as the associate chair for the department and teaches courses in both electrical and computer engineering, including computer networks, wireless networks, and micro-processor-based design. His areas of research are wireless networking, wireless security, and digital forensics.

Capt. Walker has accumulated more than 1,500 flight hours and is designated a patrol plane and mission commander in the P-36 Orion. His decorations include the Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, and various campaign and unit awards. He is married to the former Rebecca Elizabeth Paquin of Waltham, Massachusetts. They and their daughters, Haley, and Victoria, live in Saverna Park.