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| Lt. Walter Ward was a B-24 pilot in the 392nd Bombardment Squadron. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/1295093/walter-m-ward https://www.pinterest.com/pin/576320083541068635/?lp=true |
Walter M. Ward never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on June 29, 1918 in Nebraska. His parents Milton and Audrey were born in Oklahoma and Nebraska, respectively. His parents divorced when Walter was a child and his father died in 1927. His mother worked as a school teacher. Walter had an older sister. Walter completed four years of high school.
A Walter Ward from Nebraska was the pilot of a plane that crashed in Nebraska the summer of 1939 when his stunt flying went wrong. He survived the crash. I don't know if it was the same person. Walter enlisted in the Army Air Corps on November 27, 1939. By 1940 he was stationed with the 17th Air Base Squadron in Hawaii.
Later in the war he became a 1st lieutenant and pilot in the 392nd Bombardment Squadron, 30th Bombardment Group which was equipped with B-24 Liberators and began operations from Ellice Island in the Pacific in November 1943.
Lt. Ward's plane was hit by flak on December 20, 1943. It crashed into the ocean fifteen miles west of Taroa, Maleolap in the Marshall Islands. All nine men on board were lost.
His cenotaph grave is at Fort McPherson National Cemetery in Maxwell, Nebraska.
Last year on this date I profiled Leslie Jackson who served in the segregated 784th Tank Battalion. You can read about Leslie here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
ive been doing a lot of research lastly, and my uncle was the second lutendent with walter
ReplyDelete1st Lt Walter Ward was my Uncle. His sister Macel Ward Beveridge was my favorite Aunt and her daughter Judy and son Jimmy were my favorite cousins and se grew up in North Platte, Ne .I have the names of all the crew members of the Wingless Witch with pictures in front of her. The Commander of the planes got to name the aircraft in WWII. My name is Michael Ginapp. By the way Walter had a daughter born to his wife who he never got to see and her name was Ellen.
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