By Deborah Larsen
Walter James Patterson Renwick
Walter James Patterson Renwick was born in Utica, Michigan, on October 31, 1924, the son of James and Jessie McNair Renwick. Before the war, Walter was employed at National Stamping Company in Detroit.
In May 1943, Walter entered the U.S. Army. His unit was sent overseas to the European Theater, and Walter was wounded on his first day in combat during the Battle of the Bulge. Shrapnel severed his spinal cord, leaving him paralyzed below the hips and confined to a wheelchair for the remainder of his life.
Upon return to the U.S., Walter spent many weeks and months undergoing treatment and rehabilitation at a hospital in Chicago and at Fort Custer. During this time, he met and married a Chicago woman, and also met a fellow paraplegic veteran who joined him in taking a watch repair course. The two men became partners in a jewelry and watch repair store in Berkley, Michigan.
As a disabled veteran, Walter faced more than physical challenges. A newspaper story in the Detroit Times in 1949 reported that Walter and a group of his fellow veterans in wheelchairs were turned away from a supper club—despite having made a reservation for their party—because the manager, upon seeing the men arrive in wheelchairs, thought that they would depress his customers.
In 1951, doctors advised Walter to seek a warmer climate for the sake of his health. He moved to southern California, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
Walter James Patterson Renwick died at age 50 on August 28, 1975, and was laid to rest at Los Angeles National Cemetery.