US Army Walter Nelson was born in McKinnonville, Escambia County, Florida on October 11, 1921, the son of Albert Hiram Nelson (1892-1954) and Vivian V. White (1888-1976). His father would support his family as a farmer but by 1940 had taken a job as a painter with President Roosevelt's WPA program. While their father was putting food on the table Walter and his two brothers were attending Tate High School in Cantonment.
With Europe fighting Hitler, Walter decided to follow his brothers into the military. He enlisted in the US Army on November 19, 1940, and was sent to Ft. Benning, Georgia for processing and training. He was assigned to the 92nd Field Artillery Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Division and spent the year of 1942 training on their M7 Priest 105-mm self-propelled guns. As the year ended, his battalion was sent to New York where they embarked on the US Army transport "SS Thomas H. Barry" headed for Rabat, Morocco. After landing the battalion spent the rest of its time training for the Allied landing at Sicily. However, due to lack of transport and a quick victory there, the battalion was never sent. In November 1943, they embarked for Liverpool, England to the "Tidworth Camp." There, they began training for the upcoming landing at Normandy scheduled for June 1944. Finally, D-Day arrived but the battalion was not scheduled for the original landing at Omaha Beach. Instead, they were delayed until June 11th due to the German's fierce resistance.
Once they landed on the 11th, they immediately unloaded their guns and headed east during the Normandy breakout. Each town they approached was a small battle in itself as they moved through St. Germain d'Ectot constantly supporting the 50th British Brigade. By July 17th, they were just east of LaMine, France preparing for Operation Cobra that was to begin on July 25th. In the meantime, the battalion was involved in the fierce attack on the strategic crossroads at St. Lo. Aerial and artillery units bombarded the city destroying 95% of it plus a high volume of casualties. The city was finally captured on July 19th.
However, during the fighting on June 24th that led up to Operation Cobra, Private Walter Nelson was fatally wounded and was transported to a rear echelon field hospital. There, he died of his wounds on July 30, 1944, and was buried in a military cemetery. He lay at rest until he was disinterred by request of his family and returned to the US aboard the Army transport "SS Corporal Eric G. Gibson" in January 1948. After processing, his remains were sent home by rail and buried in the Beulah Cemetery.
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