Walter Wisne holds a special place in my heart. He and my father were first cousins, and spent a great deal of time together along with Walter's two younger brothers, Tony and Ed.
My father and his three cousins held a special bond as all enjoyed athletics. Walter was quite an athlete in his youth and was signed by Connie Mack to play baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics. After kicking around in the minor leagues for several seasons he walked away from the game. It was during the great depression and money was tight. Walter found a job working as a laborer for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) building dams and other public works.
Before going to work for the TVA, Walter coached weight lifting and wrestling, and managed professional wrestler Ivan Rasputin, "The Crazy Russian." in my book Limited Duty my father relates a story about playing football against Ivan, and how his cousin Walter had to keep Ivan from wanting to beat up my father because my father made him look foolish the entire game.
https://www.amazon.com/Limited-Duty-WWII-Heroes-States/dp/1513639293/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9MRGPY53R8XD&keywords=limited+duty&qid=1568545995&sprefix=Limited+Duty%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1
Walter was more than just an excellent athlete, he was an accomplished artist. Shortly before the outbreak of WWII, Walter found himself working as an artist for a magazine. His job was to sketch a model scantily clad model in lingerie. His sketches were considered risque for the time. Walter would boast the the models loved the sketches he made of them because he always made them more beautiful and glamorous than they actually were in life.
When the war started Walter enlisted in the USMC, after training he was sent to the south Pacific. His recollection of his first two months as a marine was that of being chased by Japanese submarines. According to Walter the ship he was on zigged and zagged its way across the Pacific until eventually reaching its intended destination. Eventually Walter participated in the fighting on Guadalcanal, but during his down time and not wanting his artistic skills to go to waste, he painted nose art on the planes and bombers, often depicting voluptuous women in various stages of undress, or wearing see thru lingerie. His pay was typically a bottle of booze for his services.
Walter was also a prolific letter writer, writing all his correspondence in script. What really made his letters stand out was that he wrote all his letters on rice paper and at the top margin of every page he would sketch a tropical scene. I was only able to see one of these letters years ago, and the combination of a beautiful color tropical scene and the script handwriting made these letters a treasure. Walter once told me that he would receive hundreds of letters from people (mostly women) he didn't know. They typically were friends of friends who really didn't care what he wrote, they were more interested in the beautiful artwork he included at the top of every page.
He spent the years after the war painting pictures and conducting art exhibits. His most preferred medium was water color. He painted huge murals for hotel and office buildings that hung in lobbies. Walter passed away in 1988. His six beautiful nieces that he adored acted as his pallbearers.
Thank you Walter for service to our country, and in some small way lifting the morale of the troops with your nose art.
My father and his three cousins held a special bond as all enjoyed athletics. Walter was quite an athlete in his youth and was signed by Connie Mack to play baseball for the Philadelphia Athletics. After kicking around in the minor leagues for several seasons he walked away from the game. It was during the great depression and money was tight. Walter found a job working as a laborer for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) building dams and other public works.
Before going to work for the TVA, Walter coached weight lifting and wrestling, and managed professional wrestler Ivan Rasputin, "The Crazy Russian." in my book Limited Duty my father relates a story about playing football against Ivan, and how his cousin Walter had to keep Ivan from wanting to beat up my father because my father made him look foolish the entire game.
https://www.amazon.com/Limited-Duty-WWII-Heroes-States/dp/1513639293/ref=sr_1_1?crid=9MRGPY53R8XD&keywords=limited+duty&qid=1568545995&sprefix=Limited+Duty%2Caps%2C168&sr=8-1
Walter was more than just an excellent athlete, he was an accomplished artist. Shortly before the outbreak of WWII, Walter found himself working as an artist for a magazine. His job was to sketch a model scantily clad model in lingerie. His sketches were considered risque for the time. Walter would boast the the models loved the sketches he made of them because he always made them more beautiful and glamorous than they actually were in life.
When the war started Walter enlisted in the USMC, after training he was sent to the south Pacific. His recollection of his first two months as a marine was that of being chased by Japanese submarines. According to Walter the ship he was on zigged and zagged its way across the Pacific until eventually reaching its intended destination. Eventually Walter participated in the fighting on Guadalcanal, but during his down time and not wanting his artistic skills to go to waste, he painted nose art on the planes and bombers, often depicting voluptuous women in various stages of undress, or wearing see thru lingerie. His pay was typically a bottle of booze for his services.
Walter was also a prolific letter writer, writing all his correspondence in script. What really made his letters stand out was that he wrote all his letters on rice paper and at the top margin of every page he would sketch a tropical scene. I was only able to see one of these letters years ago, and the combination of a beautiful color tropical scene and the script handwriting made these letters a treasure. Walter once told me that he would receive hundreds of letters from people (mostly women) he didn't know. They typically were friends of friends who really didn't care what he wrote, they were more interested in the beautiful artwork he included at the top of every page.
He spent the years after the war painting pictures and conducting art exhibits. His most preferred medium was water color. He painted huge murals for hotel and office buildings that hung in lobbies. Walter passed away in 1988. His six beautiful nieces that he adored acted as his pallbearers.
Thank you Walter for service to our country, and in some small way lifting the morale of the troops with your nose art.