Walter Karl Albert Schnatter, a valued member of America’s greatest generation, passed peacefully during the small hours of April 8, 2005, six months after a grueling surgery against laryngeal cancer.
Walter began life October 23, 1911, in Cleverburck Krs. Ostholestein, Germany. The harsh economic realities of the Great War and its aftermath drove the Schnatter family to the freedom and opportunity offered to so many by the United States of America.
Their arrival in October 1925 is chronicled in the Ellis Island archives with the records of so many millions who sailed past Miss Liberty’s beacon of hope. Walter became an American citizen when he reached his 21st birthday in 1932.
Young Walter apprenticed as a machinist, his father’s trade, and followed it the rest of his working life. Walter also used his hands in the boxing ring and remained a formidable opponent for grandchildren and great-grandchildren into his 90s.
Walter worked his way to manhood during the hard times of the Great Depression. But after Pearl Harbor, in 1941, Walter found himself 34 years old in a well-paying and draft-exempt profession.
By 1944 Walter could stand it no longer. He lied about his age and enlisted in the US Army, requesting service in the Pacific Theater of Operations. The recruiting sergeant asked Walter if he was unwilling to fight his German cousins.
Walter replied, in his heavy German accent: “I’ll fight any enemy of the United States, but I don’t want my own men to shoot me!”
Walter was sent into combat on Iwo Jima. Like so many who saw combat, Walter remained reluctant to detail his experiences for the rest of his days. He was decorated.
Technical Sergeant Walter Schnatter married Klara Waidelich, also born and raised in Germany, also an immigrant; and with her own brave story of coming to America all alone as a teenager. They set up housekeeping in New York City and Long Island, where daughter Rose inherited Walter’s intense passion for fishing; though she hooked Walter’s face before mastering the knack of casting.
Walter and Klara were together more than half a century in New York City, Long Island and Whidbey Island until Klara’s passing in June of 2003. For a happy time, four generations of the family lived on Whidbey Island at the same time.
Grandchildren Sean and Keith Byrne completed high school in Oak Harbor. Sean and wife Theresa operate businesses on Whidbey Island and the mainland. Great-grandchildren Ryan and Erin Byrne are now in the Oak Harbor school system. Rose and husband Paul Newman are retired on Whidbey Island. Walter’s sister, Terry Castle, lives in California.
Walter Karl Albert Schnatter, of America’s greatest generation, will be missed by his family and his country. He will rest next to Klara and Keith in Maple Leaf Cemetery.
A viewing is scheduled for 10 a.m., Wednesday, April 13, at Burley Funeral Chapel. Graveside services will follow at Maple Leaf Cemetery. Arrangements have been entrusted to Burley Funeral Chapel, Oak Harbor.
