‘Wally’ was a young American Paratrooper that my mother had met at the skating rink in Swindon ‘The Majestic’, as it was later called was actually the Milton Road Swimming Baths that had been boarded over to form a skating rink.
He was from Pennsylvania and his full name was Walter L. Lipinski – as I write these pages I believe he is still possibly living there today (update – Walter is still with us and I hope to hear from his family soon). Later I discovered that he served in D (‘Dog’ Company, 506th PIR), 101st Airborne Division. On D-Day over France he had jumped in the same stick mastered by Ron Spiers who later transferred to E (‘Easy’ Company, 506th).
I have treasured these photographs for the past 35 years since the age of 10!
In 2004 Walter made a short oral history recording of his wartime memories with the Veterans History Project, National Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
A picture of Walter taken in Feb. 1944
Walter is holder of the Silver Star Award
Arthur Di-Marzio, D/506th jumped from the same plane as Walter on D-Day.
Wally pictured on the right, together with Bob Lundy in August 1945
Wally, Pictured with the pipe he loved
Walter was wounded in January 1945 near Bastogne, by shrapnel from an 88′ shell burst.
