First Lieutenant Frank B. Walkup IV
19 June 1983 – 16 June 2007
Frank Walkup IV of Woodbury, Tennessee was an extraordinary young man who had always planned to follow in his father’s (Army-Operation Desert Storm) and grandfather’s (Navy-Viet Nam) footsteps through military service. He participated in 4 years of JROTC in high school, and then 4 years of Army ROTC in the Rocky Top Battalion while attending The University of Tennessee, Knoxville from 2001 – 2005 when he commissioned as a 2LT upon graduation. Frank was married to his college sweetheart, also a UTK alumnus, Sabita Maharaj Walkup. Together they moved to Oahu Hawaii for his first duty station at Schofield Barracks after he completed Infantry Officer training and became a graduate of the prestigious Army Ranger school at Ft. Benning Georgia (now known as Ft. Moore). During his first deployment, platoon leader 1LT Walkup (aka Spartan 6) was killed in action on 16 June 2007 from an IED detonation while on dismounted patrol near Rashaad, Iraq. He was the first alumnus of the Rocky Top Battalion to be killed in the global war on terrorism.
The Mountain Man Memorial March event is the result of Rocky Top Battalion cadets who, in memory of their fallen alumnus 1LT Walkup, donned their uniforms and ruck sacks in 2008 and completed a marathon ruck march of 26.2 miles through the mountains surrounding Gatlinburg, Tennessee. The event has continued every year in April since that first march and has grown to become a tribute to all American heroes who have given the ultimate sacrifice while serving their country in all branches of the military.
