Born and raised in Germany, he enlisted as a private in the German Luftstreitkräfte in March 1918, at 17 years of age, after finishing high school.
He talked vividly about the situation by explaining that the German Revolution broke out on November 9, 1918, which caused Kaiser Wilhelm II to abdicate and flee the country, and since at that point in time each soldier made his own decision about his immediate future, Walter decided to go home to Essen.
Walter's older brother Kurt had also served in the German Army earlier in the war and was wounded in 1916 at the Battle of the Somme.
After arriving in the United States, he and Trude initially stayed with relatives in Chicago, while he learned the English language in night school and from listening to the radio.
In 1941, they moved to St. Louis, Missouri, where Walter opened a business selling Belgian light bulbs for a Western Extralite branch.