VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3], 4 ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 07:07:15 09/10/04 Fri
Author: 504
Subject: Re: Looking for info on 2nd Lt Wallace J. Walker, kia 1945
In reply to: Wallace F. Smith 's message, "Looking for info on 2nd Lt Wallace J. Walker, kia 1945" on 19:17:31 07/27/04 Tue

Your uncle is listed in a few different resources with data that might present a conflict in your ongoing research.

First of all I found him listed and showing his basic entry data as follows. This represents the day he "walked through the gate".

12057619
WALKER WALLACE J
NEW JERSEY
BERGEN
PLACE OF ENLISTMENT NEW YORK CITY NEW YORK
DATE OF ENLISTMENT DAY 04FEB42
Private
TERM OF ENLISTMENT Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law
SOURCE OF ARMY PERSONNEL Civil Life
NATIVITY NEW JERSEY
YEAR OF BIRTH 1921
EDUCATION 4 years of high school
CIVILIAN OCCUPATION ADDRESSING-EMBOSSING MACHINE OPERATOR or CLERK, GENERAL
MARITAL STATUS Single, without dependents

The above shows him enlisting in the Army in 1942. His rank then was Private.

It is interesting to note that in a compiled listing of 82nd Airborne casualties compiled by Dutch researchers, that his casualty data shows him with this ENLISTED service number. It is important to note that the above number is for an ENLISTED MAN---not an officer.

In the National Archives casualty lists he is shown as follows:

2 LT Wallace J. Walker
ID: 0-887900
Branch of Service: U.S. Army
Hometown: Sussex County, NJ
Status: DOW

Here we see that he has an OFFICER's serial number.

The distinction is significant as it would appear to indicate that within the space of two and a half years he rose from Private to commissioned rank. Which is pretty unusual. Two possibilities exist--that he was detailed to OCS or, received a battlefield commission. If the latter, one expect to find some time as an NCO.

In the compiled reference of General Orders of the 82nd Airborne we find his citation as ranging from SSGT to 2LT. So with this we can safely anticipate that he did in fact receive a battlefield commission. From this material we can see that he is cited in GO 35 of 1944 detailing a BRONZE STAR award, and an OAK LEAF CLUSTER to same on GO 68 of 1944. Meaning he received a second BRONZE STAR. He would also be awarded the PURPLE HEART as a casualty.

Your notation that he was KIA is technically inaccurate. Obviously he died as a result of combat action, however, the Army draws the distinction between being killed in active combat and one who dies following active combat of wounds sustained during that combat.

That is the reason for the Status:DOW (Died Of Wounds) notation. The date cited as 10APR45 is the official date of death. The action in which he received his wounds would be before that.

During April 45 the 505 was moved by truck on 2APR45 to occupy positions between BONN and COLOGNE Germany. During this period they were engaged in intelligence gathering forrays across the river. The regiment sustained many casualties from snipers, artillery, drownings during river crossings and extractions, as well as people killed and wounded during the cross river missions. A notation in the Dutch resource states that he died in the "Hurtgenwald".

The Dutch source mentions that he was 2/505 but whether this is HHQ of 2nd Battalion or one of the line companies is not clear.

2LT Wallace J. Walker is buried at Long Island National Cemetery.

Apologies if this posting appears twice--it did not seem to take on the first attempt.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.