| Hometown | Civilian Occupation |
| Wilmington, Delaware | Chemist’s helper at the DuPont Experimental Station |
| Branch | Service Number |
| U.S. Naval Reserve | 7225515 |
| Theater | Vessel |
| Pacific | Passenger aboard S.S. Nathaniel Bowditch (in transit for assignment) |
Early Life & Family
James Charles Walker was born early on March 20, 1924, at the Homeopathic Hospital at 1501 North Van Buren Street in Wilmington, Delaware. He was the second son of Charles Lawson Seal Walker (a molder, 1901–1924) and Mary Walker (née Nero, 1906–1992). When he was born, Walker’s family lived at 2700 Moore Street in Wilmington, a home owned by his maternal grandmother, Mary Nero (c. 1868 –1958). He had an older brother, John Lucas Walker (1922–2003).
Around 1922, Walker’s father began showing symptoms of tuberculosis. His condition worsened in early 1924 and he died at the Brandywine Sanatorium in Marshallton, Delaware, on May 15, 1924. His youngest son was not yet two months old.
Walker’s mother remarried on January 20, 1927, to William Oscar Gears, Jr. (1904–1967), a purchasing agent and later a clerk for the DuPont Company. The couple raised Walker, his brother, and three children of their own.
The Evening Journal reported on March 20, 1928:
James is receiving congratulations today on his fourth birthday. He is loved by most everyone. He has two hobbies, outdoor life and tools. James is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William O. Gears, No. 8 Mousley Row. He has one brother and one sister of whom he is very fond. James is the grandson of Mrs. Mary Nero, 2700 Moore street.
Walker was recorded on the 1930 census living with his mother, stepfather, brother, and two half-sisters at 8 Mousley’s Row in Wilmington. Census records indicate that the family had moved to 23 Buena Vista Street in Wilmington by April 1, 1935. It appears that Walker lived there until he entered the service. He was recorded there on the 1940 census living with his mother, stepfather, brother, two half-sisters and half-brother. Walker graduated from Pierre S. duPont High School on January 30, 1942.
His yearbook stated: “An ardent bowling fan, Jimmie has been a member of the school bowling team, besides being president of his home room. A swing addict, he likes dancing and all girls. Baseball heads Jimmie’s sports calendar.”
Prior to entering the service, Walker worked as a chemist’s helper at the DuPont Experimental Station, located north of downtown Wilmington.
According to his personnel file, at enlistment, Walker stood five feet, 7½ inches tall and weighed 128 lbs., with light brown hair and blue eyes.
Military Career
Walker volunteered for the U.S. Navy during the fall of 1942. Since he was under 21, the age of majority at the time, his mother consented to his enlistment on October 20, 1942. Walker was accepted as an apprentice seaman in the U.S. Naval Reserve at the Navy Recruiting Station, Wilmington, Delaware, on October 24, 1942. He was placed on inactive duty until he began boot camp at the U.S. Naval Training Station, Newport, Rhode Island, on October 29, 1942. Upon completing boot camp, Walker was promoted to seaman 2nd class on November 26, 1942. On December 1, 1942, he was transferred to Jacksonville, Florida, for further training. It appears he was able to spend a few days on leave in Wilmington before continuing south.
On December 10, 1942, Seaman 2nd Class Walker reported for duty at the Naval Air Station, Jacksonville, Florida. Four days later, he began the 12-week Aviation Ordnanceman School there. He excelled in the course, graduated sixth in his class of 132 men on March 6, 1943, with a final score of 93.14 out of 100. He also received some training as an airborne radar operator, though not enough to qualify him to serve in that position.
Walker was promoted to aviation ordnanceman 3rd class on March 8, 1943. An aviation ordnanceman was responsible for loading and maintaining weapons aboard Navy aircraft. Some men who held that rating also served as aircraft gunners. Walker’s personnel file noted that at N.A.S. Jacksonville, Walker was found to be “Physically qualified, fitted and recommended for Aviation Free Gunnery Training.”
On March 16, 1943, Walker began Naval Air Gunners School at Jacksonville, graduating on April 27, 1943. He was authorized 10 days of leave back home in Wilmington and five days of travel time, with orders to report by May 12, 1943, at the Receiving Ship, San Francisco, California. From there, he was to ship out for Nouméa, New Caledonia, for further duty as assigned by ComFltAir (Commander, Fleet Air) there. Walker reported at San Francisco as ordered on May 12, 1944. Walker’s personnel file does not reveal the date he went overseas, just that he shipped out aboard the Liberty ship S.S. Nathaniel Bowditch. His stepfather’s statement for the State of Delaware Public Archives Commission, which generally summarized his career accurately (other than placing him in Los Angeles rather than San Francisco) reported that Walker shipped out on May 31, 1943.
Although Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Walker was a passenger, not a crew member, he stood watch as a lookout during his journey aboard S.S. Nathaniel Bowditch. The ship had a light armament of cannons for self-defense, manned by a detachment of sailors from the U.S. Navy Armed Guard under the command of Ensign Anson C. Hayes, Jr. (1913–1975). According to Walker’s personnel file, during General Quarters on the evening of June 8, 1943, somewhere in the Pacific Ocean, Ensign Hayes was instructing Signalman 3rd Class John Linden Clendenning in “methods of handling a revolver (CLENDENNING having been assigned to the use of one, as a petty officer, at the beginning of the trip, was somewhat new to its use).”
Ensign Hayes stated:
At this time the gun was unloaded. A little later, after the men had taken their lookout stations, I again withdrew the gun, a 38 caliber, Smith & Wesson revolver, from the holster, to show another way of handling it, and it was accidentally discharged, the bullet striking WALKER, James C., AOM3c, who was standing a lookout watch at the #4 gun on the port side of the bridge. The bullet struck him in the back as he was facing outboard and as I was standing by the flag locker, amidships. Time was 1848.
Walker’s personnel file stated he suffered a mortal wound to his lower back. Despite medical care, he died from his wound the following day at 1930 hours, June 9, 1943. His personnel file stated that the next day, June 10, 1943:
Body buried at sea at 1353, disappearing instantly, well off port quarter of vessel. One minute of silence observed; flag at halfmast rest of the day.
Service scripture passages read by Mr. Troy B. McCoy, night cook and baker and a divinity student, and the Master.
Ensign Hayes received a letter of reprimand.
Walker’s mother was notified of his death on July 2, 1943. Although she wrote to the Navy to try to learn the circumstances of her son’s death, she was told only that her son died “as the result of an accidental gunshot wound not self-inflicted while a passenger aboard the SS NATHANIEL BOWDITCH” and that “The Secretary of the Navy held that your son’s death occurred on 9 June 1943, not as the result of his own misconduct.”
For decades afterward, Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Walker’s mother placed memorial notices in Wilmington newspapers for the anniversaries of his birth and death. Walker’s name is honored at the Courts of the Missing at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Hawaii, at Veterans Memorial Park in New Castle, Delaware, and on a marker at Silverbrook Cemetery in Wilmington, where his parents are buried.
Notes
Mousley’s Row
Mousley’s Row (or Mousley Row) is no longer an extant address in Wilmington but was located in the area of Concord Avenue and North Market Street.
Secret Marriage?
A strange episode played out after Walker’s death. In a letter to the Navy dated July 9, 1943, Walker’s mother, Mary Gears, stated that the same day she learned of her son’s death, she was told that he had secretly been married. It was unclear whether she learned the information from the alleged widow or someone else, but she asked the Navy to investigate. In a letter dated August 9, 1943, she advised the Navy that she was told that her son supposedly married Constance Alford (1926–1995) in Elkton, Maryland, on December 5, 1942. Alford was a resident of Claymont, Delaware.
Walker and Alford did have a relationship in high school. Notably, she signed Walker’s entry in his copy of his high school yearbook. It does appear that on the date they allegedly married, Walker was on leave at home, following boot camp and before reporting to Jacksonville. According to Walker’s niece, Deborah Walker Wilson, her father, John Lucas Walker, confirmed that his brother dated Alford. However, he also told her that he was not aware of any marriage and did not believe that James Walker would have concealed it from him.
Similarly, Mary Gears wrote that “I myself went to Elkton Md. where they were supposed[d] to be married but there was no record of marriage.” She added: “My son never told me he was married. I have only saw [sic] my son twice since he went in the Navy and never once had he said he was married.”
On April 1, 1943, Aviation Ordnanceman 3rd Class Walker, in a sworn statement preserved in his personnel file, stated he was unmarried and designated his mother as a dependent relative entitled to six months’ pay as a gratuity in the event of his death.
The Navy sent a letter to Alford stating in part:
In view of the fact that you were not named upon the official records as his wife, it is suggested that you forward to this Bureau a copy of your marriage certificate, certified by Seal of the Custodian of Public Records. This information is necessary in connection with the settlement of his affairs.
There is no record in Walker’s personnel file of any response from Alford. On January 27, 1945, she married Leonard J. Verucci (1923 or 1924–1983), then a soldier stationed at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland. Her marriage certificate described her as waitress and stated that it was her first marriage.
Alford’s relationship to Walker is unclear. She may have been his girlfriend, fiancée, or simply someone he had been dating, but the weight of the evidence indicates that she was not his wife.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to Tommy Gears and Deborah Walker Wilson for contributing information, documents, and photos.
Bibliography
Application for Headstone or Marker for James Charles Walker. Applications for Headstones and Markers, July 1, 1970 – September 30, 1985. Record Group 15, Records of the Department of Veterans Affairs. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2375/images/2375_03_01051-04031
“Beloved Boy.” The Evening Journal, March 20, 1928. https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evening-journal-james-c-walker-4th/139403126/
Certificate of Birth for James Walker. Record Group 1500-008-094, Birth Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9YQM-31B3
Certificate of Birth for John Lucas Walker. Record Group 1500-008-094, Birth Certificates. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-DYQR-SJ
Certificate of Death for Charles W. Walker. Delaware Death Records. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-DR1Q-CHK
Certificate of Death for Mary Nero. Delaware Death Records. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS9N-13F5-3
Certificate of Marriage for William O. Gears, Jr. and Mary Walker. Delaware Marriages. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSWW-H9MS-8
Certificate of Marriage for Leonard J. Verucci and Constance Alford. Delaware Marriages. Bureau of Vital Statistics, Hall of Records, Dover, Delaware. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-6126-2M
Delaware Land Records, 1677–1947. Record Group 2555-000-011, Recorder of Deeds, New Castle County. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/61025/images/31303_256939-00222
Draft Registration Card for James Charles Walker. Draft Registration Cards for Delaware, October 16, 1940 – March 31, 1947. Record Group 147, Records of the Selective Service System. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. https://www.ancestry.com/imageviewer/collections/2238/images/44003_10_00008-00790
Fifteenth Census of the United States, 1930. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GRHM-N3C
Fourteenth Census of the United States, 1920. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GR6W-SVC
Gears, William O. Individual Military Service Record for James Charles Walker. October 27, 1944. Record Group 1325-003-053, Record of Delawareans Who Died in World War II. Delaware Public Archives, Dover, Delaware. https://cdm16397.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p15323coll6/id/21241/rec/4
Individual Deceased Personnel File for James C. Walker. Individual Deceased Personnel Files, 1939–1953. Record Group 92, Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri. Courtesy of U.S. Army Human Resources Command.
“May Gears.” Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/133661154/mary-gears
Official Military Personnel File for James C. Walker. Official Military Personnel Files, 1885–1998. Record Group 24, Records of the Bureau of Naval Personnel. National Archives at St. Louis, Missouri.
Pierrean January 1942. Courtesy of Deborah Walker Wilson.
Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940. Record Group 29, Records of the Bureau of the Census. National Archives at Washington, D.C. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MR-MSBP
“Young City Sailor Died From Accidental Gun Shot.” Journal-Every Evening, July 6, 1943. https://www.newspapers.com/article/139398023/
Last updated on February 7, 2024
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