COLPITTS; WALTER W
UNITED STATES ARMY AIR FORCES
WORLD WAR II
NJ
Individual Type Unaccounted For Missing In Action
Rank 1st Lt
Service Number O-370720
Location China Seas
Date of Loss 10/24/1944
Unit ARISAN MARU; 27 MATERIALS SQUADRON 20 AIR BASE GROUP

Rutgers.edu |

Walter William Colpitts II '38

(b. December 22, 1916, Teaneck, NJ-d. October 24, 1944, South China Sea)

Attended Teaneck High School, Teaneck, NJ

Entered Rutgers September 1934, BS, Liberal Arts, June 12, 1938

Entered Service July 1939, U.S. Army Air Corps, commissioned 2nd Lt., March 1940, 1st Lt.

Walter belonged to the Honor School and served on both the Sophomore Hop Committee and the Junior Prom Committee. He was also on the football team, boxing team and rowed for the Crew Club, which he managed all four years. He served as a pursuit ship pilot and was present at every opening of an American airfield in the Philippine Islands. Walter was at Pearl Harbor when the Japanese attacked on December 7, 1941. He was reported missing the following July. On March 12, 1943, the Japanese government reported him as a prisoner of war in Cabanatuan, Philippines. Walter and over 1,700 other prisoners died when the ship that was transferring them to Japan was struck by submarine fire.

Walter W Colpitts