PASSINGS: Dan Walker, Norman Simon

Dan Walker

Veteran buried flag burned by protester

Dan Walker, 81, an Army veteran who was honored for retrieving and burying a U.S. flag that had been burned in protest during the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas, died of prostate cancer Sept. 16 at his Fort Worth home.

TV cameras recorded Walker carefully retrieving the flag remnants so they could be buried properly.

“I didn’t want someone sweeping it up with a broom and put- ting it in an ashcan,” the West Point graduate and veteran of World War II and the Korean War told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram afterward.

The man who burned the flag was convicted under a Texas law banning desecration of the flag. That conviction was thrown out in 1989 by the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that flag burning was constitutionally protected free speech.

Walker disposed of the ashes according to flag care guidelines and buried them in his backyard. He was later presented with the Army’s highest civilian award and received a letter from President Reagan.

Norman Simon

Longtime B’nai B’rith executive director

Norman Simon, 89, who worked more than 50 years for B’nai B’rith, the Jewish fraternal organization, died Sept. 15 in Marin County, the organization announced. No cause of death was given.

He retired in 1995 as longtime executive director of the L.A.-based western district, which included the West Coast and British Columbia.

Born April 25, 1920, in San Francisco, Simon started with B’nai B’rith as a volunteer basketball coach. In 1945, he became regional director for B’nai B’rith’s Northern California youth organization and in 1956 was appointed assistant director of the western district. He was named executive director in 1960.

B’nai B’rith has 100,000 members and supporters engaged in religious, political and community activities.

-- times staff and wire reports news.obits@latimes.com