Walter Sevalier

Walter Sevalier’s Personal Narrative was derived from information found in public records, military personnel files, and local/state historical association materials. Please note that the Robb Centre never fully closes the book on our servicemembers; as new information becomes available, narratives will be updated to appropriately represent the life story of each veteran.

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Military Honor(s):

Distinguished Service Cross

Citation: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Corporal Walter S. Sevalia (ASN: 915300), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company F, 7th Engineers, 5th Division, A.E.F., near Brieulles, France, 3 November 1918. Corporal Sevalia swam the Meuse River with a cable for a pontoon bridge, under direct machine-gun fire. Later he carried a cable for another bridge over the Est Canal, across an open field covered by enemy machine-guns. Here he was wounded by a machine-gun bullet, but returned carrying a message of great importance.

Purple Heart

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Life & Service

  • Birth: 9 December 1896, Ashland, WI, United States
  • Place of Residence: Chicago, IL, United States
  • Race/Ethnicity: Native American
  • Death: 25 April 1954 Chicago, IL, United States
  • Branch: Army
  • Military Rank: Corporal
  • Company: [F]
  • Infantry Regiment: 7th Engineers
  • Division: 5th
Personal Narrative
Early Life (Pre-War): Includes general parent information, sibling information, education Toggle Accordion

Walter Sevalier was born on 9 December 1896 in Ashland, Ashland County, Wisconsin to Mary Ruby (1876-1961) and (potentially) Alex Sevalier/Sevalia/Chevalier (1870-1908), the first of four children; Myrtle Elsie (1900-1989), Muriel Marie (1903-1977) and Katherine Viola (1905-2003).

Alex Sevalier died in 1908; Mary Ruby Sevalier married Charles Stewart (1879-?) the same year. Sevalier was listed as a member of the Bad River Band of the Lake Superior Tribe of Chippewa Indians; the family lived in the Lac du Flambeau region, Wisconsin, into the 1910s, and moved to Brule before 1920.

Service: Includes a summary of transfers, rank change(s), training, enlistment, and discharge locations Toggle Accordion

Sevalier enlisted in the U.S. Army on 17 September 1917 and was assigned to Co. F, 7th U.S. Engineers, 5th Division. Then-Private First Class Sevalier and Co. F left New York on 6 March 1918 aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship-run commercial steamer 511. Sevalier received the Distinguished Service Cross and Purple Heart for his actions near Brieulles, France on 3 November 1918;

“The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Corporal Walter S. Sevalia (ASN: 915300), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company F, 7th Engineers, 5th Division, A.E.F., near Brieulles, France, 3 November 1918. Corporal Sevalia swam the Meuse River with a cable for a pontoon bridge, under direct machine-gun fire. Later he carried a cable for another bridge over the Est Canal, across an open field covered by enemy machine-guns. Here he was wounded by a machine-gun bullet, but returned carrying a message of great importance.”

Then-Corporal Sevalier was sent to Beau Desert Hospital Center, near Bordeaux, France. He and Beau Desert Canal Company #26 (Crutch Cases) left Bordeaux, France on 24 December 1918 aboard the U.S. Army Transport Ship S.S. Powhatan. Sevalier was Honorably Discharged on 26 June 1919.

Later Life (Post-War): Includes post-war education, occupation, marriage(s) and/or children, location and date of death Toggle Accordion

Upon his return home, Sevalier lived with his mother, stepfather, and siblings in Brule, they moved back to the Lac du Flambeau region in the late 1920s.

At some point, he married Ida Mae Vess (1895-1946) and relocated to Detroit, Michigan, where he worked as an ‘Inspector’ for the U.S. Immigration Service. In the 1940s, the couple lived at 4444 Malden Street, then 933 E 117th St., Hammond, Indiana; they separated before 1944. In February of that year, Sevalier married Elizabeth Eileen Egan (1907-1985); the couple had one child, Joyce Eleanor (1935-), who was born in Iowa while Elizabeth Egan was still married to Loyle Everett Eye (1905-1980).

In the 1950s, the family lived in Chicago, Illinois (4035 Kedvale St.) where Sevalier worked as a ‘Hearing Examiner’ for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.  Sevalier died in Chicago on 25 April 1954 of an unknown cause, he is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia.