Walter A. Hook

Walter A. Hook was born in July 0f 1917 in St. Louis Missouri. He served in World War II from 1943 to 1946 in the Headquarters Company, 937th Engineer Aviation Battalion, 9th Air Force. He was trained as a truck driver and a surveyor. Hook had graduated from Maine University. His civilian occupation was Civil Engineer for Aberthaw Construction Company in Boston. This job afforded him a deferment from the war draft that lasted for about two years. Hook knew that the deferment was coming to an end and decided to volunteer to be drafted. He left two weeks later for Basic Training in Florida.

Hook thought Basic was difficult because he was not used to the discipline or the yelling! He was training in Florida as a truck driver and when it ended, he was sent to Salt Lake City, Utah. In Salt Lake, Hook switched from being a truck driver to being selected as an engineer. He traveled to Iowa where he became a part of the 937 outfit and began training with them.

From there, Hook went and departed from New York on an eight-day journey to Liverpool aboard ship. This ship was packed to the maximum capacity, and he would sleep and eat in the same room. Their only real activity was trying to get to the deck, which could take a couple of hours. Hook stated, “You would hope to find a space to lean up against and if you did you would stay there all day”.

Hook arrived in England and then headed south toward the English Channel, where his outfit was tasked with creating dummy aircraft. Dummy aircraft were in demand to throw off Germans who were surveilling airfields in hopes of locating where attacks would take place from. After England, Hook’s outfit was transported to France.

“The 937th Engineers constructed airfields for fighter aircraft from Normandy to well into Germany – Regensburg before D-Day. I originated and drew the detailed construction drawings of the dummy fighter airplanes that were erected in a field near Dover England. These fake planes convinced the German High Command that the invasion was coming across the Channel in the Dover area. The drawings were made having only a small picture of a fighter airplane for guidance.”

Hook’s time in France consisted of working on airfields, surveying, and leveling them. Airfields were in high demand and essential for the use of fighter jets, they needed to be created wherever they could be. Due to the distance, fighter jets could travel before needing to be refueled.

In France, Hook’s outfit traveled to where Headquarters Company’s had its primary location, and his job there was to help with the kitchen staff. He also traveled to Paris and to La Marre, where they would either work on airfields or dig trenches. However, Hook had some downtime in between orders and would keep busy with staying organized.

After Paris, Hook and his outfit traveled to Luxembourg and to Germany where they saw firsthand the effects of the war, as well as the fast rebuilding of German towns. In Luxembourg, the people were very nice to Hook: “I could go to some families’ houses for dinner any night” and “They were very happy we were there.” Hook was never in direct battle during the war yet was an essential part of the war efforts.

Hook’s service was recognized with stars, ribbons, and medals: the Good Conduct Medal, the European African Middle Eastern Theater Campaign Ribbon, the World War II Victory Medal with four Battle Stars, and on June 6, 1999, the Medal commissioned by French war veterans for his having landing on Omaha Beach on June 6, 1944. 

Walter A. Hook passed in 2007 in New Jersey.