Walter was a U.S. Army Air Corp pilot with the 434th Fighter Squadron and flew cover for Allied troops in the P-51 Mustang fighter during the June 6, 1944, D-Day invasion of Normandy along the English Channel coast of Northern France. For his first 34 World War II combat missions, Walter flew Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft named the “fork-tailed devil” by the Luftwaffe. In aerial combat in his P-38, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf 109 German fighter aircraft, the backbone of the Luftwaffe’s fighter force. He also destroyed 3 of the Bf 109 aircraft on the ground. By midsummer 1944 Walter’s squadron had switched to the P-51, an American-made long-range single-seat fighter aircraft that was able to reach Berlin from the French coast. In their P-51s, the 434th pilots did high altitude work escorting Allied bombers, and also engaged in dive bombing and strafing activity on the Rhine River in Germany. The pilots liked the P-51s, as “They were more maneuverable than the P-38s and had a longer range — eight hours,” Walter recalls. “Everything was smaller, closer at hand. When you got in one you felt like you were part of it.” Danger was always lurking. During a mission on October 30, 1944, three of the four planes in Walter’s flight group went down in a storm. Walter was the only one who got back. One of the downed pilots survived and was taken prisoner of war by the Germans. Walter returned home in December 1944 and left active duty with the rank of First Lieutenant but remained in the Air Force reserves for 25 years before retiring at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. For his combat flight service Walter earned 2 Distinguished Flying Crosses and 6 Air Medals. Walter had a 30-year career at Republic Federal Savings in Southern California and served as President for 10 years and on the Board of Directors. Walter is 99 and resides in Newport Beach.