S/Sgt. Walter A. Knapp

Biography and Wartime Service

Walter Albert Knapp was born on June 19, 1909, in Seymour, Connecticut, to Laura Burt (1889–1975) and Albert Calvin Knapp (1883–1961). Walter Albert Knapp married Josephine Teresa Zagaglia (1916-) on October 9, 1939, when he was 30 years old.

During the interwar period, about 1928 he joined the Army and was on duty at Fort Adams for 10 years, serving with the 13th Infantry Regiment in the US and later for nine months to reinforce the Panama Canal Zone. The 13th Regiment was inactivated at Fort Davis on 14 June 1940, relieved from the 9th Division. When the United States entered the war, he was a recruting sergeant at Portland, Maine, and later served as plant guard instructor at Worcester, Massachusetts. Walter A. Knapp enlisted on January 28, 1941 in Boston Massachusetts. Sergeant Knapp was last home in January 1944, his furlough expiring January 29, two days before the birth of his daughter Mary Jean Knapp, whom he never saw.

He was sent overseas in March 1944 from Camp Breckenridge, Kentucky, and temporary attached to Anti Tank Company, 331st Infantry Regiment on May 26, 1944, returning to duty with Hq Company on June 6, 1944. Staff Sergeant Walter A. Knapp was killed in action (KIA) in Sainteny, France on July 17, 1944 after serving in the army for 16 years. For his service, Walter A. Knapp received the Combat Infantry Badge, the European African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with one Bronze campaign star, the Purple Heart Medal, the American Defense Medal and the Good Conduct Medal.

Walter A. Knapp is buried at the "Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial" of Colleville-sur-Mer. Plot F - Row 10 - Grave 6. His grave is adopted by Glynn Nightingale, England/France.

I met his daughter Mary Lou Knapp Houlahan at the Reunion of the 83rd Division Association, West Point, New York, 2011.

Gallery

click on the images to enlarge