Dan Whittle, The Murfreesboro Post, March 12, 2012
Governor Haslam hold the new sign that will designate South Lowery Street, from Stewarts Creek to Highway 840, as Major Hames Walls Memorial Highway.
SMYRNA, Tenn. – What historic Sewart Air Base brought to here cannot be measured in the present.
Amongst the biggest, longest-felt local impacts was when Sewart landed Maj. James “Jim” Walls as a pilot of C-130s in 1957, and after his distinguished 20-plus years in the military, Smyrna was where he established family roots.
“Sewart Air Base brought more talent and quality people, as exemplified by Maj. Walls residing here, than any other singular event in our notable towns’ history,” said Smyrna Town Manager Mark O’Neal. “Although Maj. Walls was 92 and had been seriously ill, the family and community can never be prepared for the loss of someone the measure of Jim Walls.”
Walls was a devoted family man, patriotic military man dating back to Pearl Harbor and a gifted oriental food-style chef, which brought national culinary awards and attention to Smyrna as a result of his opening the now-legendary Omni Hut restaurant in 1960.
Appropriately, the major’s survivors, led by wife Sally Walls, will open the Hut’s doors to the public Sunday from 1-4 p.m., for visitation and personal remembrances of a man who impacted his home community and the world.
“Jim wanted to be cremated,” shared wife Sally Walls. “After his cremation, he gave me and the children the privilege of deciding what to do.
“Jim had a saying: ‘If it’s worth doing, it is worth a show,’” his wife noted. “Jim will be there, and he’ll love nothing better than to have his loved ones and legions of friends remember him at his beloved Omni Hut.”
Former Sewart Air Base Commander Steve Fitzhugh gave an interview back in the 1990s, explaining the military and personal friendship connection to fellow Air Force pilot Walls.
“At old Sewart, Jim and I were privileged to be part of the training team where air cargo troop and equipment deployment techniques were invented and refined, deployment techniques that remain in tactical use today by modern military professionals across the world,” Fitzhugh said.
On a more personal level, present-day Smyrna Airport Executive John Black quotes a “Walls-Fitzhugh legend,” born when they served together in the South Pacific.
“One of Col. Fitzhugh’s favorite stories was recounting when he and Maj. Walls shared flight duty, including lay-overs at various islands,” Black shared. “Steve liked to share that while he and most other pilots would be sharing drinks in bars and restaurants throughout the South Pacific, Maj. Walls was always found back in the kitchens…where the major learned and refined the tastes and dishes still served today at Smyrna’s statewide-famous Omni Hut.”
But, the Japanese nearly deprived Smyrna, and the world of Walls’ presence.
“Maj. Walls was on second floor of his barracks at Pearl Harbor, when he hollered down, asking a buddy about the loud noise,” former Sewart C-130 pilot J.D. Kennedy said.
“The buddy didn’t know exactly what was happening on that fateful Sunday morning (Dec. 7, 1941) but hollered back at Jim,” Kennedy continued, “that ‘We don’t know what’s happening, but live ammunition is flying all around us.’”
Sally Walls picks up the story, “when bullets started hitting the barracks at Pearl Harbor, Jim hit the floor, and scooted on his backside to safety.
“After the first wave of Japanese bombers, the major left the barracks, trying to get to his plane and crew, but when the second wave returned, targeting grounded U.S. planes, they had to retreat to a bunker, where Jim helped load and fire a .50-caliber machine gun.”
The major gave an eye-witness account of the Japanese attack: “A Japanese plane flew past me at eye-level on second floor of my barracks, so close I could see both the pilot and the machine gunners’ faces.”
In a subsequent letter to his family in Iowa, Walls wrote, “We were caught totally unprepared, but men leaped into jobs and performed in an excellent manner. If another attack, it could only mean total defeat of the Setting Sun (Japanese military).”
From Pearl Harbor, Walls was assigned to Maui, the Phillipines and various other South Pacific islands, before attending flight school in California and ultimately finishing his military career at Sewart Air Force Base in Smyrna.
At his death at age 92 on Sunday, March 4, Jim Walls is best-known locally for the food and flavors served at Omni Hut, a legendary privately owned-and-operated eatery dating back to 1960.