Walter Couser

1st Lt. Walter J Couser Jr was assigned to the 301st BG 32nd Squadron.
Military Occupational Specialty (MOS): Bombardier.

Walter was from Greenwich, NY (DOB: 12/01/1918) and enlisted in the US Army at Fort Monmouth, NJ in January, 1938. He was regular Army, a SSGT in the Signal Corps and the post Boxing Champion in his class at Fort Monmouth for a while. He was studying at the West Point prep school and was stationed at Camp Polk, LA and Fort Ord, CA in a motor escort unit for tanks when the war broke out. He and his wife married in June,1941. He wanted to be a pilot but he scored pretty high on the entry tests and since there was a great need for bombardiers, he went to Albuquerque, NM (Kirkland Air Base) to train and went overseas from Omaha, NE to North Africa and then to Italy with the 15th. He was a 2nd Lieutenant. After the war, he stayed in the newly designated US Air Force, became a Master Navigator and a Base Commander. He attained the rank of full Colonel (0-6). We lived all over the world, California (Mather), Alabama (Maxwell), Texas (Sheppard AFB twice in Wichita Falls and James Connally in Waco), France, two bases in Germany (Wiesbaden and Bitburg), Washington, DC (the Pentagon twice), North Carolina (Seymour Johnson) among others. After retirement in 1970, a 32 year career, he became the Manager of the Wichita Falls Municipal Airport in Texas for 12 years before his death.

The following information on Walter Couser is gathered and extracted from military records. We have many documents and copies of documents, including military award documents. It is from these documents that we have found this information on 1st Lt. Couser. These serviceman's records are nowhere near complete and we are always looking for more material. If you can help add to Walter Couser's military record please contact us.

Date	Order	Award	Document Originator	Rank
02/23/1945	General Order (GO)* : 900	AM Air Medal	Issuing Authority: 15th Air Force	Current Rank: 1st Lt
04/11/1945	General Order (GO)* : 2269	AM/2OLC Air Medal Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster	Issuing Authority: 15th Air Force	Current Rank: 1LT
04/24/1945	General Order (GO)* : 2711	AM/3OLC Air Medal Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster	Issuing Authority: 15th Air Force	Current Rank: 1st Lt
04/29/1945	General Order (GO)* : 2849	DFC Distinguished Flying Cross	Issuing Authority: 15th Air Force	Current Rank: 1st Lt
05/07/1945	General Order (GO)* : 3097	AM/4OLC Air Medal Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster	Issuing Authority: 15th Air Force	Current Rank: 1st Lt

* Documents are of the type/classification of "General Order" for most award documents. The listed documents are GO, General Order unless otherwise stated. For example. Special Orders.

The Issuing Authority is the Command and author of the document.

5/7/1945 General Orders 3097 AM
4/2/1945 General Orders 2039 AM
5/7/1945 General Orders 3097 AM

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