Posted by Terry Powers on August 17, 2023:

His Find-A-Grave memorial: LT William Milner Wallace Jr. BIRTH 8 Feb 1922 Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia, USA DEATH 16 Oct 1944 (aged 22) Blackstone, Nottoway County, Virginia, USA BURIAL Decatur Cemetery Decatur, DeKalb County, Georgia, USA PLOT Section 9 MEMORIAL ID 161195773 PHOTOS 4 William Milner Wallace. Jr. ("Milner" to the home folks, "Wally" to his West Point associates) at the age of twenty-two accomplished far more than many whose years were twice that number. The young lieutenant's death closed a brilliant career which had taken him as an honor student through the Decatur, Ga., grammar schools and Decatur Boys High from which he graduated in 1939. He was Valedictorian of his class, winning in addition the saber in R.O.T.C. for military and scholastic efficiency, and the Chemistry medal for the highest grades in Science. He also won a four-year scholarship to Columbia University, N. Y. While at Columbia, Milner was active in the Christian Association and was pledged a member of the S.A.E. fraternity. After two years he received an appointment from the Fifth Congressional District of Georgia to the U.S. Military Academy, West Point. The three years Milner spent at the Military Academy were very happy ones for him. He never found the discipline too rigid nor his studies too difficult, and always found time to help others less endowed than himself. While there he received the stars of a Distinguished Cadet, was a member of the Chess team and achieved the rank of Cadet Lieutenant. Graduating number 37 out of a total of 474 cadets, made it possible for Milner to choose the Corps of Engineers as his branch of service. Milner received a diploma for completion of the Graduates Course at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, and was then assigned to the 264th Engineer Combat Battalion at Camp Pickett, Virginia. He was there only a few days before his tragic death from a gunshot wound. Milner was born in Atlanta, Georgia, February 8, 1922, the only son of Mr. and Mrs. W. M. Wallace. In addition to his parents, he is survived by four sisters, Mrs. Grover C. Willis, Jr., of Columbus and Decatur, Ga., First Lieutenant Joella Wallace, A.N.C., presently assigned as Liaison Officer to the First Brazilian Fighter Squadron, in Italy, Miss Alice Wallace and Mrs. Charles C. Evans of Decatur, Ga. Milner was a member of the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church of Decatur. http://apps.westpointaog.org/Memorials/Article/13997/ Family Members Parents William Milner Wallace 1885--1969 Carlene Mary Ambrose Wallace 1886--1974 Siblings Carlene Wallace Willis 1914--2014 Joella Wallace McDowell 1916--2010 Alice Lee Wallace 1918--2017 Blanche Wallace Evans 1924--2011 www.findagrave.com/memorial/161195773/william-milner-wallace

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