Walter died on January 1. He was 86.
His story was published in the Colborne Chronicle on May 19, 2005. Excerpts are included below:
Like most young men of his era, Walter (Wally) Leigh responded to his sense of duty and enlisted to fight in World War II. And like many others who followed him into the enlistment lines, he lied about his age, entering the forces before he was 18. But unlike many, Wally Leigh was able, by chance or by luck, to dodge death in his six years of service.
Britain declared war on September 3, 1939. Wally and his friend, Tommy Revell, enlisted a day later. Wally's announcement to his parents, Walter and Louise, got a mixed reaction. Louise declared she'd tell the military that her only son was barely 17. Dad responded that fate had stepped in -- the boy would go to war.
More than once fate stepped in again and the affable, self-effacing boy from Barking, Essex, returned to his family after six years in the navy.
In those years aboard the corvette, Vetch, and the escort carrier, Trumpeter, the young seaman sailed the coast of Africa, performed convoy duty in the North Atlantic, dropped soldiers for the invasion of Sicily, observed the slaughter at Dieppe and sailed on the last convoy to Murmansk. During his service he was mentioned in dispatches and commended for his bravery and accuracy as a gunner.
When interviewed in 2005 at age 82 , Wally continued to see his life as one rich with good fortune.
His war experiences definitely bore that out.
to read the rest of his story Walter Leigh
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