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First Sergeant Frederick Walter was drafted into the Army (Infantry) and served in the 7th Division, 32nd Regiment, Company C. He was sent to the Pacific, where he fought in Leyte, Philippines and in Okinawa. He was wounded in battle. He was on Okinawa, guarding a fighter aircraft landing strip, when the atomic bombs were dropped on mainland Japan. He described watching offshore ships firing tracer shells in celebration the night of the Hiroshima bombing. He was part of the occupation forces stationed in Korea after the war ended. Walter received a Purple Heart, Bronze Star (for helping save his outfit on Okinawa when they were pinned down by enemy machine gun fire), and medals for the Asiatic-Pacific campaign, World War II, and the Army of Occupation in Japan. He was interviewed by Suzette McCord-Rogers on Jan 1, 2007. He was born on February 3, 1924, in St. Joseph, Missouri. At some point, his family moved to near Blair, Kansas, where they farmed. After the war, he returned to farming. He attended a G. I. Farm Program in Wathena. The 2005 Kansas Legislature passed a bill funding the WWII Veterans Oral History grant program. This transcript is from one of the nine community institutions that received these grants. The transcript from the interview is presented here; the original video copy of the interview is available through the Doniphan County Historical Society (Troy) and through the Kansas State Historical Society.
Creator: Walter, Frederick
Date: 1 January 2007
Item Number: 212226
Call Number: World War II Oral Histories Project
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 212226
Agriculture - Family farming
Collections - Oral History - Kansas Veterans of World War II - Doniphan County Historical Society, Troy, KS
Date - 2000s - 2007
Military - Service - Army - Infantry
Military - Veterans - Benefits - G. I. Bill of Rights
Military - Wars - World War II
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Transcript
Places - Counties - Doniphan
Places - Other States - Missouri
Thematic Time Period - World War II, 1939 - 1945
Type of Material - Unpublished documents - Transcript
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/212226