WALLY WAS BORN IN WIESBADEN (GERMANY).

HIS FATHER HAD SERVED IN THE GERMAN ARMY DURING WWI

FOR SEVEN YEARS AND HAD BEEN A POW IN A BRITISH PRISON CAMP. A FRIEND WARNED HIM TO LEAVE AS HIS NAME WAS ON A LIST TO BE APPREHENDED.

HIS FAMILY LEFT THE COUNTRY IN 1936.

THEY SPENT SEVERAL MONTHS IN BELGIUM WHILE HIS FATHER ATTEMPTED TO OBTAIN PASSAGE TO THE U.S.

THEY ARRIVED IN NEW YORK IN NOVEMBER 1937 AND MOVED TO ST. LOUIS A FEW MONTHS LATER.

WALLY ENLISTED IN THE U.S. ARMY IN 1944.

HE WAS SENT TO THE PACIFIC AND SERVED UNTIL 1949.