Edmonde Joseph Walker was born March 23, 1913 in New Haven County, Connecticut. The names of his parents and his early life are mysteries as he cannot be located in census records. When he registered for the draft in October 1940, Edmonde was living in Houston, Texas and working at the Rice Hotel. At some point thereafter he evidently relocated to Atlanta, Georgia as an Atlanta address was penciled in above his Houston address on his draft card.

Edmonde enlisted in the US Army Air Corps 4 June 1941 at Fort McPherson, Georgia. His enlistment record indicates he was single, had completed four years of high school, and was employed as a mechanic or repairman. He apparently attended aerial gunnery school and was assigned as a Staff Sergeant to one of the initial crews of the 349th Bomb Squadron of the 100th Bombardment Group (Heavy), Eighth Air Force, which flew B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers.

The 100th BG was activated 27 October 1942 at Gowen Field, Idaho then moved to Walla Walla Army Air Base, Washington. After receiving crews and aircraft, the group relocated again on 30 November 1942 to Wendover Field, Utah, where it added additional personnel, aircraft, and crews, and began operational training. On 1 January 1943, the aircraft and aircrews moved to Sioux City AAB, Iowa where they assisted in training of other groups bound for overseas. In mid-April 1943, the aircrews moved to Kearney Army Air Field, Nebraska and received brand new B-17s. After additional operational training, the group's aircrews departed Kearney on 25 May 1943, flying the North Atlantic route to England, where the group was based at Thorpe Abbotts, Norfolk.

On 25 June 1943, the 100th BG flew its first combat mission, sending 30 B-17s to bomb the U-boat yards in Bremen, Germany. In foreshadowing of dreadful things to come that would earn it the nickname "The Bloody Hundredth", three of the group’s aircraft and 30 men did not return from the mission. SSgt Sullivan was a waist gunner aboard B-17F #42-3260 (known as "Angel’s Tit") that fateful day, piloted by 1Lt Alonzo Pelton Adams III. On the way to the target, the unescorted formation of B-17s was not properly assembled, likely due to a combination of the inexperienced crews and poor weather, making it especially vulnerable to attack by enemy fighters. As the scattered formation approached the coast of Germany, SSgt Walker's aircraft was last seen falling out of formation after a German Bf 109 fighter made a head-on firing pass, raking it with cannon and machine gun fire. Only one crewman, the navigator, was somehow able to escape the B-17, and became a prisoner of war. The other nine crewmen were either killed by the enemy fighters or perished when the aircraft exploded and crashed into the North Sea about 30 km north of Langeoog, Germany.

Edmonde Joseph Walker is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing in the Cambridge American Cemetery and Memorial in Cambridgeshire, England.

Thank you SSgt Walker for your service and your sacrifice, you will not be forgotten.

Crew of 42-3260 "Angel's Tit"

Pilot, 1st Lt Alonzo P. Adams III (KIA)
Copilot, F/O George Z. Krech (KIA)
Navigator, 2nd Lt Nicholas Demchak (POW, survived the war)
Bombardier, 2nd Lt Jessie D. Gurley (KIA)
Top Turret Gunner/Engineer, TSgt John K. Sullivan (KIA)
Radio Operator, TSgt James D. Purcell (KIA)
Ball Turret Gunner, SSgt John G. Kruzich (KIA)
Waist Gunner, SSgt Edmonde J. Walker (KIA)
Waist Gunner, SSgt Norman Asbornsen (KIA)
Tail Gunner, SSgt Bryant Hutchinson (KIA)

This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project (see www.storiesbehindthestars.org). This is a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 400,000+ of the US WWII fallen here on Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Related to this, there will be a smart phone app that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery, scan the fallen's name and read his/her story. SBTSProject/Connecticut/New Haven.

If you noticed anything erroneous in this profile or have additional information to contribute to it, please contact me at bob.al@storiesbehindthestars.org.

Sources:

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947
U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/100th_Air_Refueling_Wing
100th Bomb Group Foundation, https://www.100thbg.com/
Missing Air Crew Reports, #271
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/56295271/edmonde-j-walker

Edmonde J Walker