Walter A. “Bay” Galloway
World War II
Bay Galloway was born in Templeton on September 14, 1915, to Franklin and Rosa (Reicher) Galloway. The family had settled near Templeton before the founding of the town. Franklin died during July, 1917. Bay attended school in Templeton and graduated from Sacred Heart High School in 1933. When he registered for the military draft on October 16, 1940, he was in San Francisco, CA and working for the US Department of Agriculture.
Bay was inducted into the US Army on August 6, 1941, and was assigned serial number 39380472. He was sent to Fort Leonard Wood, MO for basic training. After basic training, he was able to visit his mother in Templeton in late November, 1941, two weeks before Pearl Harbor. He was assigned to the 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion, part of the US Army Air Corps. He was sent to March Field at Riverside, CA and was stationed there when war was declared.
The 808th Engineer Aviation Battalion (EAB), 4th US Air Force was one of many such units that were trained to construct airfields in remote locations. They seem similar to the US Navy’s Seabees except that they concentrated mainly on airfields rather than the wide variety of structures built by the Seabees.
After Pearl Harbor, the 808th EAB was sent to Muroc Army Air Field (now known as Edwards Air Force Base) near Lancaster, CA. They received orders to sail and left San Francisco, CA on January 12, 1942, aboard the USS President Coolidge. Their heavy equipment was in the same convoy on the freighter “Luckenbach.” The men thought their destination was the Philippines but Japanese advances changed the destination first to Java, then Brisbane, Australia and finally Melbourne, Australia. They were the first US Army Engineering unit to arrive in Australia when they landed on February 2, 1942.
The 808th EAB moved to Camp Darley near Melbourne until February 12th when they began to move toward Darwin on the northern coast, about 2,000 miles. They traveled by truck and train. Due to the Japanese threat to Darwin, the 808th EAB stopped at Katherine (about 200 miles south) on February 28, 1942, and built their first airfield there. Six other airfields were built in northern Australia by July, 1942. Bay and his unit were periodically attacked by Japanese aircraft during this time.
On July 16, 1942, the 808th EAB went to Darwin and boarded the “Tasman” to sail to Buna, Northeast New Guinea. However, Japanese activity again changed the destination to Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. They again built airfields although the jungle environment made it much more difficult. The 808th EAB enjoyed R&R from April 3 to May 22, 1943, in Sydney, Australia. Unfortunately, a dock worker strike there resulted in Bay and his unit having to unload ships during their R&R.
The 808th EAB arrived back on New Guinea and continued to build airfields until October 20, 1944, when they landed on Leyte, Philippine Islands. This was to be their last station as the perimeter around Japan was getting smaller. By May, 1945, the 808th EAB was returning to the US after having built 23 airfields. Bay was discharged from the US Army as a technical sergeant on June 8, 1945, and was back in Templeton by June 23.
Bay initially worked for Garst Company and later owned his own agricultural product company. On February 16, 1963, he married Lucille (Steffes) Irlmeier. Bay died in Carroll on November 17, 2006, at age 91. He was buried in Sacred Heart Cemetery in Templeton.