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| Coxswain George Walch served on the USS Ormsby through the Battle of Guam. |
George James Walch Jr. never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
George was born on June 28, 1920 in Rochester, New York. His parents George Sr. and Loraine were born in Canada and New York, respectively. His father immigrated to the States in 1900, worked in the construction industry, and was a World War I veteran. George had two younger sisters and a younger brother. His father passed away in 1940. When he registered for the draft in July 1941, George was working for the Rochester Ice and Cold Storage Company as a bulldozer operator. He married the former Katherine Dale in April 1943.
He enlisted in the US Naval Reserve in April 1943 and served as a coxswain aboard the attack transport ship USS Ormsby (APA-49). The Ormsby was commissioned 28 June 1943 and was used to transport troops and their equipment to hostile shores to conduct amphibious invasions using an array of smaller assault boats carried aboard the attack transport itself. As a coxswain, George likely was responsible for piloting one of the landing craft from the Ormsby to the shore and back. Following completion of her shakedown in July 1943, Ormsby sailed from San Francisco en route to San Diego to load Marines and cargo for Pearl Harbor. From Pearl she loaded more Marines, Seabees and equipment and departed 14 August for the South Pacific.
COX Walch was likely aboard as the Ormsby took part in the amphibious landings on Tarawa in November 1943, Kwajalein in January 1944, Bougainville in March 1944, and Aitape, New Guinea in April 1944. The Ormsby next landed Marines of the 6th Marine Division on Guam on 21 July 1944. During the landing, she suffered her only casualties of the war when COX Walch and two others were killed when their landing craft was hit by a mortar.
George James Walch Jr. was initially buried on Guam and was later reinterred in Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York. His widow remarried after the war and passed away in 1989. George’s younger brother Raymond also served in the Navy during WWII and survived the war.
Thank you COX Walch for your sacrifice. Let's Earn It for George.
This is one of the final 100 stories (67) 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.
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This profile was written by Bob Fuerst. "I’m a NASA engineer, B-17 Flying Fortress enthusiast, and amateur genealogist so this kind of research is an ideal outlet for me. But more than anything, it’s a way to express my sincere appreciation for The Greatest Generation and the sacrifices that they made, especially those who made the ultimate sacrifice. They should never be forgotten and I’m grateful to Don for allowing me to play a small part in honoring them."
Last year on this date I profiled Clinton Goodwin of the 777th Tank Battalion. You can read about Clinton 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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