Walt Kowalski

Walt is a Polish-American former auto worker who becomes embroiled in a conflict involving a Hmong family and a gang. Walt had served in the Korean War and had killed a Korean boy who had been trying to surrender to him; the experiences haunts him for the rest of his life. He is a retiree who formerly worked at a Ford automobile plant, and he owns a Gran Torino he had personally built. He also owns an M1 Garand rifle and an M1911A1 pistol, both of which he kept from the Korean War. Walt's wife, Dorothy Kowalski, is dead by the beginning of the film.