At 101 years old, Spencerport resident vividly recalls his time serving in WW II
At 101-years old, Stewart Eugene “Gene” Walker has seen more than most. The amazing thing is – he remembers almost all of it. The Spencerport resident was born on September 20, 1915 and raised in Flint, New York – a tiny town located between Canandaigua and Geneva – working on the family farm and attending school in a one-room schoolhouse.
In 1935, the Walker family decided to move the family to the west side of Rochester and purchased a farm on Gordon Road in Brockport. Gene stayed on with his family, but with the start of the Second World War, it was only a matter of time until his draft notice arrived.
That day came in February 1941 and shortly after, Walker left the family farm and traveled to Syracuse to be sworn in, picked up his clothes and equipment in Fort Niagara, and headed to Fort Dix, New Jersey where he and the other recruits were given competency tests and then their assignments. “I have no idea why they chose me to be a medic, but that is where I ended up,” he said.
After 13 weeks of first aid training, Walker was sent to San Francisco, a five-day trip by train, where on December 7 he was to head to Manila, Philippines. “That never happened, of course, because of the bombing,” he said.
The military took over three luxury liners to transport troops to Pearl Harbor. “We finally left on December 16 and it took us until December 21 to get down to Hawaii,” Walker remembered. Even using a cruiser as an escort, the liner was constantly changing course because of the number of enemy submarines in the water.
Upon arrival, he saw the devastation. “There was a ship bottom side up, holes in the dock. The place was a mess,” remembered Walker. The Japanese attack on the U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor, Oahu killed more than 2,300 Americans.
It completely destroyed the American battleship U.S.S. Arizona and capsized the U.S.S. Oklahoma. The attack sank or beached a total of 12 ships and damaged nine others. One hundred sixty aircraft were destroyed and 150 others damaged. Walker’s job was to provide full guard duty and he remained at Pearl Harbor until the following summer.
Australia was thought to be in harm’s way, so the 34th Infantry Division was sent to Sydney, then up to the Australian desert. Field medics like Walker went wherever the 34th fought, so he headed to combat zones in New Guinea and the islands of Biak, Leyte and Buka in the South Pacific.
“There were plenty of narrow escapes,” said Walker. “I remember when I was driving and heard a gun go off. I felt a breeze by my head as the bullet whizzed by.” As a medic, it was his job to deliver first aid right on the battlefield, transport soldiers needing more extensive treatment or transport the deceased. “I’m not afraid of blood or death anymore,” said Walker. “I’ve seen too much of it.”
Driving at night, Walker would have to keep his headlights off and follow the treetops in order to find the road. Oftentimes there were bombs in the road. “I remember driving one night not even knowing that I was 20 feet from enemy territory,” he said.
Years later, Walker was finally sent back to the U.S. where he continued his service at Camp Crowder in Missouri, Fort Dix again and finally ended up in Atlantic City. During this time, his sister Helen was working with another young woman named Mary Jane in the payroll department at Eastman Kodak Company. Helen encouraged her friend to start writing to Gene, which she did for the better part of a year.
Finally, in April 1945, Walker was told that his time of service was done. He took a train back to Rochester and waiting for him at the station were his family and Mary Jane, who he had never laid eyes on until that moment.
After a brief courtship, the two were married in October of that same year. Eugene took a job as a pipefitter at Kodak, a job he kept for 31 years. After their wedding, he and Mary Jane rented a flat on Frost Avenue, then half a house on Peck Road before purchasing the Gordon Road home from Gene’s mother in 1951.
The couple enjoyed 63 years together and raised two children before Mary Jane passed. They celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in Hawaii, where they visited the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor.
The couple’s son, Ted Walker, former Spencerport mayor, passed in November of last year. Their daughter, Nancy Walker Downs, now lives in Arizona. Walker’s two brothers have passed as well, along with one sister. His sister, Helen, now lives at The Landing in Brockport.
Despite Walker’s brave service in the military, he never received any medals, until just a few years ago. Thanks to his neighbor, Judy Lockwood and her husband, the late Ron Lockwood, Walker is the proud recipient of the Good Conduct Medal, American Defense Service Medal, WW II Victory Medal, Honorable Service Button, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon and Bronze Star.
The medals should have been awarded during Walker’s active duty, but his military records were destroyed in a fire in Seattle, Washington. Other records substantiated his service, which the Lockwood’s sent to Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. “We had the medals within two weeks,” said Judy.
She and the other neighbors at Hickory Hollow keep a close eye on their friend Gene, who still spends his time baking bread and cookies, and loves sitting in his sunroom. Walker said he doesn’t know how he’s kept his mind so sharp over the years. “I guess I just spend a lot of time remembering life,” he said.
