My 3rd Cousin Walter

I recently received an email from Family Search notifying me of some ancestors that has Military Records.  I'm always in awe of individuals that serve their country in the military.  It is quite the sacrifice for the individual as well as their family.  So, I'm very interested to find out what ancestors of mine served in the military, what war, branch of service, where they served, and if there are any interesting stories.  I love the stories.

I have quite a number of ancestors with military records and I hope to highlight all of them in the Blog.  So, we'll start with the first one.  Walter Richard Ton.  He is my 3rd cousin, once removed.  He served with the Navy during WWI.  Unfortunately, none of his military records are available at this time, so I'm not able to learn anything right now of his military service. But I was able to find much more about him after the war. First off  I want to show his Draft Registration Card.

After the service Walter began working for the Postal Service.  He started as a Railway Mail Clerk and worked his way up the ranks to Inspector.  He married Doris Kemp in 1934 and from what I was able to find they had one daughter.  Unfortunately, Walter's life was cut way too short. Apparently, as part of his job, he was out west to pick-up some individuals who had committed crimes against the USPS.  On his trip him the plane he was in crashed.  There were no survivors.  He was 45.

What a horrible way to go.  I hope he didn't suffer.  It's hard to imagine what the last moments were before the crash.  He was way to young, still so much of his life to live.  Apparently, he was supposed to receive a promotion at work when he got home.  From all that I've read he sounds like he was quite the honorable man, husband and father.  His wife never remarried.  Always feel badly for children that grow up without their father.  I know that daughter missed out on a lot of things not having her father.  I just hope that there was someone in her life to help fill the void.  Walter had 2 brothers and Doris had several brothers, so hopefully her uncles helped out.  

He's handsome young man