Individual Details
Walter Garrett Blair
(6 Jan 1915 - 3 May 1945)
Walter Blair was trained at the USNR midshipman school in South Bend, IN (Notre Dame), earning a commission of Ensign and was designated as instructor in the officer training school.
" We lived in South Bend for approximately one year and in the summer of 1944 moved to New York City where Walter was assigned to Columbia University School of Oriental Languages to train for work in Military Government. In Dec. 1944 he received his overseas orders, so he brought his young family back to Miami. In Nov., 1944, Kathleen Blair was born at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, NY and was just six weeks old when the family went by train to Miami and the home of Jean's parents, John and Frank Bigelow.
He left his young family in the care of his in-laws and proceeded to his overseas duty, Jan. 8, 1945. He had a few weeks additional training at the Presidio at Fort Ord, CA, and then proceeded aboard ship to the western Pacific area. He was killed while assembled on the deck with the rest of the Military Government team. One of our Navy anti-aircraft gun crews raked the deck where the men were standing and killed eight officers and four enlisted men, and injured 32 others. Lt. (J.G.) Walter Garrett Blair, U.S.N.R., was one of those killed. Medals, including the Purple Heart, were simply mailed to his widow"
Mrs. Jean Bigelow Blair Whiting to Watt Marchman, 1973
" We lived in South Bend for approximately one year and in the summer of 1944 moved to New York City where Walter was assigned to Columbia University School of Oriental Languages to train for work in Military Government. In Dec. 1944 he received his overseas orders, so he brought his young family back to Miami. In Nov., 1944, Kathleen Blair was born at the Brooklyn Naval Hospital, Brooklyn, NY and was just six weeks old when the family went by train to Miami and the home of Jean's parents, John and Frank Bigelow.
He left his young family in the care of his in-laws and proceeded to his overseas duty, Jan. 8, 1945. He had a few weeks additional training at the Presidio at Fort Ord, CA, and then proceeded aboard ship to the western Pacific area. He was killed while assembled on the deck with the rest of the Military Government team. One of our Navy anti-aircraft gun crews raked the deck where the men were standing and killed eight officers and four enlisted men, and injured 32 others. Lt. (J.G.) Walter Garrett Blair, U.S.N.R., was one of those killed. Medals, including the Purple Heart, were simply mailed to his widow"
Mrs. Jean Bigelow Blair Whiting to Watt Marchman, 1973
Events
| Birth | 6 Jan 1915 | Philadelphia, Philadelphia Co., PA | |||
| Marriage | 8 Nov 1941 | Miami, Dade Co., FL - Jean Bigelow | |||
| Death | 3 May 1945 | Okinawa, Japan |
Families
| Spouse | Jean Bigelow (1916 - 1980) |
| Child | John Robert Blair |
| Child | Kathleen Blair |
| Father | Robert Andrew Blair |
| Mother | Estella Garrett |