PFC Anthony Martin Walter

courtesy of Doug Illsley

PFC Anthony Martin Walter was born 24 Apr 1917 in Cheektowaga, New York. He was the 6th of the 7 children of John Joseph and Catherine Marie (Miller) Walter. Early in his life his father worked as a machinist and the family lived in the home they owned at 46 Alpine Place in Cheektowaga. By 1930 his father was a Judge in Cheektowaga and then he returned to working as a machinist for Whittman Company in Erie, New York earning a reported $1300 in 1939. That same year Anthony was working in the building trades for Fred Seitz of Cheektowaga and earned $800. 

Anthony was drafted in November 1942 and after his basic military training was sent to England where he was assigned to A Company 116th Infantry. He then trained with the unit as it prepared for a planned amphibious assault on the Normandy coast, a part of the effort to liberate Nazi occupied France. PFC Walter was killed in action in that assault when he was shot on 6 Jun 1944. 

PFC Walter rests forever with many others from A Company and the 116th Infantry in the Normandy American Cemetery.