WW2 Colmar Pocket Fallen - Walter Barkyoumb, 36th Infantry Division

Pvt. Walter Barkyoumb served in the 36th Infantry Division in France.
https://ww2fallen100.blogspot.com/2019/06/ww2-fallen-b-17-ball-turret-gunner-john.html
https://36thbaker.weebly.com/unit-history.html 

Walter James Barkyoumb never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.

If you have enjoyed reading the stories of the WW2 fallen, Can you help write some stories? It's a big project. The more help, the better.  Announcing "The Stories Behind the Stars", see https://www.storiesbehindthestars.org. This crowd-sourced national project has the goal of compiling stories of all 400,000+ of the US World War 2 fallen in one free-to-access central database. We are going to need a lot of volunteers. Anyone visiting a war memorial or gravesite will be able to scan the name of the fallen with a smartphone and his story will appear on the phone.

Walter was born on June 6, 1920 in Fairfax, Vermont. His parents Edward and Clara were also both born in Vermont. His father worked as a farmer. Walter had two older brothers, three older sisters, two younger brothers, and one younger sister. He married Gwendolyn Greenwood in October 1943. They had one daughter.

He was drafted into the army in 1944 and was sent to Europe in October as a replacement soldier. He became a private in Company G, 2nd Battalion, 141st Infantry Regiment, 36th Infantry Division which was fighting in the southern sector of the western front. The 36th ID needed a large influx of replacements because of heavy casualties suffered in the fall, including episode of the Lost Battalion rescued by the Nisei 442nd Infantry Regiment. The Germans launched a counterattack against the reformed 36th ID in December. New inexperienced troops were often the first to die in battle. Private Barkyoumb went missing on December 19, 1944. He was later found to have been killed in action on that date.

His grave is at Mount Calvary Cemetery in Saint Albans, Vermont. I don't know what happened to his widow or daughter.

Thank you Pvt. Barkyoumb for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for Walter.

This is one of the final 100 stories (89) to be written as part of this project which ends on September 2, 2020, the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II. At that time more than 1,370 men and women will have been profiled. The project will live on in an expanded program to write the stories of all 400,000+ US World War II fallen. Visit www.storiesbehindthestars.org to learn more. We welcome your continued support and interest and encourage you to help write some of these stories.


Last year on this date I profiled B-17 ball turret gunner John Waldren. You can read about John 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.

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WW2 Fallen 100 is supported by

The Greatest GENERATIONS Foundation

“Where Every Day is Memorial Day”

http://www.tggf.org