Walter Travis, a Coronado resident, was part of the generation of young adult men who fought for the United States military in World War II. The National WWII museum says less than 1% of the 16.4 million Americans who served during that war remain alive as of 2023.
Travis, 100, remembers that the war was ongoing when he enlisted to join the Marines right out of high school.
“When I joined the Marines, I was scared to death,” said Travis. “They take everything we had in our past out of us and then teach us how to be real people, how to be real Marines.”
According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, the list of veterans who were part of the more than 16 million U.S. service members in the armed forces during World War II, between 1941 and 1945, will drop to a few dozen by 2039.
“Children today are the future of tomorrow, of this country. You need to go to school. You need to do everything you can to get smarter so you can help run this country,” Travis said. “We fought for this.”
Formative years
Travis was born in Southern California, but he said his family moved to San Francisco in the 1920s during the Great Depression.
As a young boy and into his teen years, Travis said, he helped his dad – a baker in the city – in the early morning hours. Keen about music, he also enjoyed high school band instruments like the trumpet and the drums, and playing sports with kids from multicultural backgrounds in the neighborhood.
Wearing a suit was mandatory when he visited downtown, said Travis, recalling past experiences as a 16-year-old.
It was during this time that Travis and his friends made the promise to return and marry their girlfriends.
“In school it was five of us, five guys, five ladies…we were really close together,” said Travis. “The ladies said they’d wait for us… So we left the ladies, we went downtown and we signed up.”
Serving alongside notable figures
Travis said he was the only one from his friends who joined the Marine Corps, at 18-years-old, and in less than a week he was sent to the Recruit Depot San Diego in 1942.
Soon after, Travis said his unit headed to Santa Barbara and eventually overseas to islands like Guadalcanal and New Guinea until eventually reaching both ends of the Philippines.
Travis spent about three years abroad as part of VMF-115, a fighter-attack squadron that was led by Medal of Honor recipient Joe Foss.
“When I became a member of the Joe Foss squadron, we had no idea who he was . … We were so proud of it later when we learned,” said Travis. “They shipped us overseas right here from San Diego and we all stayed together.”
Travis shared a write-up that detailed how he and other servicemen assisted aircraft maintenance personnel that kept the VMF-115 pilots prepared for missions retaliating against Japanese invasion. Charles Lindbergh also flew with the squadron.
Travis remains proud about being part of the VMF-115 squadron with record-setting aviators like Foss and Lindbergh, who he said was “the best mechanic around.”
“In the military, you have to learn to live, survive. It’s actually a survival thing,” Travis said. “That time seemed to pass fast because going from one island to another, different things going on … it seemed like it was a short trip, but I guess it was a long trip, really.”
Travis said men in the unit experienced illness and combat injuries. Foss got sick first and was sent home, noted Travis, eventually, other pilots were being killed or contracted deadly diseases.
“Everybody that’s over there, you worry about when you’re gonna go home … and then all of a sudden we’re home,” added Travis.
At the end of 1944, Travis said he was transferred to a hospital ship as he suffered malaria and fungus on his feet.
Like Travis, soldiers during World War II went months without communication with the people back at home.
“All of us five guys, before we left, had one thing in mind: ‘We’re gonna come back and marry our girlfriends.’ That was the thing we wanted to do. And all but one came back, but the rest of us all married our girlfriends … We all stuck together for quite a while.”
Post-war years
“We were gonna take a swim in the pool and they announced it,” said Travis in a quavering voice. “‘Gentlemen, gentlemen the war is over, the war is over!’ So then everybody comes screaming…’The war’s over, everybody can go wherever they want to go.’ So we all went up to LA and Hollywood and partied for several days.”
After the war, Travis married and began a new chapter in his life, eventually returning to the Bay Area, where he lived and raised his family in Marin County for more than 20 years.
“I used to have about 100 pictures or more (of the war), but I gave them away to the museums,” Travis said.
Travis and his wife moved to San Diego in the 1980s before her passing. After living in Solana Beach and Carlsbad, Travis eventually moved to Coronado with his daughter, Leslie, during the pandemic.
Being an honor flight participant more than ten years ago, Travis said he appreciates organizations and volunteers who provide veterans like him closure and show them appreciation for their time in the service.
His daughter said Travis attends all the Honor Flight homecomings at Lindbergh Field, saluting fellow veterans as they walk through the crowd.
An admirer of local concerts, Travis said he enjoys the range of recreation the town has to offer locals and visitors.
“There’s no place in the world like Coronado,” added Travis.
