Walter C Cherry

Walter C. Cherry, 96, of New Port Richey, passed away April 8, 2015 at Medical Center of Trinity. Born on December 19, 1918 in Alamo, Tennesse, he was the son of Walter and Edna Austin Cherry. His birth was just after the end of WWI during the great flu epidemic and more people died of the flu than from the war. Walter's mother had the flu at the time of his birth and lay between life and death for quite some time. In 1924 his family moved to Tampa, Florida and in 1926 to Brandon, Florida and he attended school in both places. Walter moved to our area in 1983 from Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of the First Baptist Church of Elfers. During his youth he attended the Baptist Church on Macon Road in Memphis, Tennesse where he was ordained as a Deacon. He has a rich military background serving in both the United States Army and Navy during World War II. At the age of 18 unable to find work because of the depression, he joined the U.S. Army in January 1937. After basic training he was sent to Fort Shelter on the island of Oahu in Hawaii. Their unit guarded Hickman Air Force Base and Pearl Harbor. He was at Schofield Barracks at Fort Shafter when the Japanese attacked in December 1941. In mid-1943 the Army transferred the unit to North Africa to fight the German Army under command of General Rommel. They fought alongside the British 8th Army under command of General Harold Alexander. They fought and chased the Germans out of Africa and into Sicily and then into Italy. Walter spoke little about a major battle that his unit fought in Anzio. Their unit landed at Anzio to establish a beachhead and to cut off the German Army a hundred miles south to prevent them from retreating north past Rome. They were under assault at the beachhead for three solid months under withering cannon and machine gun fire. After suffering trememdous casualties they broke through after three months and captured the town and road-crossing preventing the German Army from escaping. Walter was in the 45th Infantry Division of the Fifth Army under command of General Mark Clark. He received an Honorable Discharge in 1945 and thanks from a grateful Nation for his service in WWII.

Upon returning from the service in 1945 he went to work as a cab driver in Memphis, Tennessee for 2-3 years. He was then employed by Victor Comptometer Corp. in Chicago in their Manufacturing Division and was Lead Foreman in the plant and retired after 30 years of service. He later drove cab in Chicago for a couple more yeras before retiring to Florida.

Walter is preceded in death by his first wife, Pauline Hunt who passed l/27/74 and his second wife, Loretta Edgar who passed l0/18/02. Both marraiges had a duration of 25 years and Walter was known to say "He had the best two women in the world as wives".

He was also preceded in death by two brothers (Austin and William) and three sisters (Annie Bell (Everett Lowery), Martha (Carroll) Vickers, and June (Thomas) Johnson.

Survivors include several nieces and nephews

Walter had no children. However his second wife, Loretta, had two married children---son, Charles Edgar (Rudy) and their children, Marlene, Laural, Kevin and Charles Jr. Now Charles Jr. has four kids and grandkids. Daughter, Sharon Edgar Ware (Craig) had a son, Brian who has a son, Benjamin. All of these members are part of Walter's surviving family.