WALTER TALASKA - USN - Rochester NY  

Walter Paul Talaska served in the US Naval Reserve Force from October 22, 1917 until September 2, 1918.

Walter Paul Taska was born on March 2, 1893, in Morris Run, Pennsylvania. He was the son of Carl and Theophila Talaska. It is likely that Carl and Theophila, with three of their young children immigrated to the United States in 1887, from Osnowo, a village in the Prussian town of Kulm (Chelmno). Chelmno was restored as a part of Poland following the Armistice of World War I.

We first meet the family in the Rochester area in the 1905 US Census. Seven of their 10 Children were living with their parents at 63 Weddel Way (later renamed Roycroft Drive). From the age of 15, until he left for Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, Walter worked as a shoemaker. He graduated from Holy Cross College in 1917.

After graduating from Holy Cross College in Worcester, MA, on June 20, 1917, Walter enlisted at Quantum, MA as a first-class yeoman in the US Naval Reserve on October 22, 1917. After his honorable discharge, he enlisted in the Naval Aviation Service. His preliminary training was received as a Cadet

at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambidge, MA.

Walter transferred to the training school at Bay Shore, Long Island, NY where he served as Chief Quartermaster.

He had been flying for two months at the training school and was fatally injured as the result of an accident with his seaplane. 

His seaplane fell 300 feet and crashed into seven feet of water in the Great South Bay, Long Island, NY. It was some time before the flier could be extricated from the wreckage.

He was later pronounced dead at the US Naval Air Station Hospital, Babylon, New York, of a skull fracture and other sustained injuries on September 3, 2018. Walter Paul Talaska was 25 years old. 

 He was buried at Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Rochester, NY, on September 6,1918. Soldiers from the United States Army School of Aerial Photography and from the Polish Army Stations in Rochester and Buffalo acted as escort.

Walter's military funeral was in 1918. He was joined by his brother John’s in 1921.

Both are laid to rest in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery, Rochester, New York.