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Walter Blake Williamson Jr.

1LT in Signal Co, Special : Officer

Military occupational specialty: 501

ASN#1648559

Born 1919 in MI, Died 1995

Artist

Other residence(s): Cheboygan, MI; Detroit, MI; Bay City, MI; River Rouge, MI; Scottsdale, AZ
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
College education before the war: Bay City Junior College, Univ. of Michigan 4 years total
College education after the war: Univ. of Michigan
Notes: 2LT on Signal Company Special Roster, 20 Oct 1944; final rank 1LT
Source: Unit Shipment 10143-D, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945; Roster of 23d HQ officers, from family of Oscar Seale; photo from 1940 college yearbook

Walter Williamson was born on December 19, 1919 in Cheboygan, MI, the youngest of four children. His father was an Episcopal minister who had been born in England and who would go on to serve in five different Michigan parishes during his career.

So Walter grew up in Cheboygan, Detroit, and Bay City—where he graduated from Bay City Central High School (where he played football) and Bay City Junior College (where he studied engineering). After completing his Bay City degree in 1940, he furthered his education at the University of Michigan.

He registered for the draft July 1, 1941, at which point he had a summer job working at the Wenonah Hotel as a radio operator. This experience must have stood him in good stead when he enlisted in the Army, since he found himself in the Ghost Army's Signal Company Special and served in Europe during the war.

After his discharge from the Army with the rank of 1LT, he returned to his engineering studies at the University of Michigan. He met his future bride, Alice Martha Steininger, when she was his dance instructor at the Arthur Murray Dance Studio. They married on July 2, 1948, right after her graduation from Wayne State.

Walter would go on to have a career as an electrical engineer at General Electric. The family (including children Nancy, Walter, and Charles) lived in various upstate New York communities—Schenectady, Binghamton, and Seneca Falls, and Alice taught school in Endicott and Vestal.

In retirement, Walter and Alice moved to Scottsdale, AZ. Walter died there on December 11, 1995.

Photo:

1940 yearbook photo (clipping attached)

https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/1265/images/1265_b887314-00019?usePUB=true&_phsrc=ulv8&_phstart=successSource&usePUBJs=true&pId=1439872584

Sources:

1920 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/17518762:6061?tid=&pid=&queryId=52629a3f8f6023052f42199eadb6f730&_phsrc=ulv6&_phstart=successSource

1940 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/76614827:2442?ssrc=pt&tid=5683147&pid=24028372640

1941 draft card

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/268477942:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=7e11be878a9b1902bcd6ff705ff9b7d9&_phsrc=ulv3&_phstart=successSource

1942 city directory for Ann Arbor MI

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/449888963:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=5b92ad6ce5a49afaa32c75c0a820b446&_phsrc=qSA12&_phstart=successSource

1947 city directory for Ann Arbor MI

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/461531975:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=5b92ad6ce5a49afaa32c75c0a820b446&_phsrc=qSA11&_phstart=successSource

1948 marriage record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=9093&h=1272177&tid=&pid=&queryId=52629a3f8f6023052f42199eadb6f730&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ulv7&_phstart=successSource

1949 city directory for Birmingham MI

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/442507767:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=5b92ad6ce5a49afaa32c75c0a820b446&_phsrc=qSA11&_phstart=successSource

1950-1993 US Public Records Index (living in Seneca Falls NY somewhere in that period)

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/263754621:1732?tid=&pid=&queryId=a3652469ac5453847724d706e55fb832&_phsrc=wRM4&_phstart=successSource

1954 father's obituary in Detroit Times (MI)

https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/newspapers/image/v2%3A143BBB730D96083A%40GB3NEWS-1682AFAC476A881A%402434946-1682AF04664B47D3%4010-1682AF04664B47D3%40?h=9&fname=walter%20b&lname=williamson&fullname=walter%20b%20williamson&exsrch=1&kwinc=&kwexc=&rgfromDate=&rgtoDate=&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&processingtime=&addedFrom=&addedTo=&sid=vjpoygbryphqbhkmgtphqkfkifsfcmtr_s074_1625944758298

1958 Binghamton NY city directory

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/79758593:2469?tid=&pid=&queryId=ffeeff386b59bf3163ec401a5c5bebf3&_phsrc=wRM5&_phstart=successSource

1995 Social Security death index

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=67850090&tid=&pid=&queryId=52629a3f8f6023052f42199eadb6f730&usePUB=true&_phsrc=ulv6&_phstart=successSource

1995 obituary in Arizona Republic (Phoenix AZ)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/123726922/?article=1278c3f5-668f-4222-bda5-3d607ed00bfd&focus=0.79554385,0.2010358,0.9612982,0.28158593&xid=3355&_ga=2.173454688.2130959079.1625920856-945911241.1624998859

2020 wife's obituary

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/azcentral/name/alice-williamson-obituary?id=2118415

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