Browse Exhibits (1 total)

The Walter L. Wallace, Sr., Collection includes photographs, documents, and artifacts from Walter L. Wallace's time at MSU and his Navy career during World War II. Wallace, a native of Laurel, Mississippi, enrolled at Mississippi State College (now Mississippi State University) and majored in business. He was a member of the Famous Maroon band, the 1492 Club, and Chi Lambda Rho. Before the D-Day bombardment and amphibious assault on Normandy, Wallace along with two other MSU graduates, George Hammer (Waveland) and Kenneth "K.O." Wise (Uniontown) each commanded a US Navy minesweeper ship. These minesweepers were to be the first into Normandy coastal waters and were tasked with the highly dangerous duties of clearing German naval mines from the approaches to Utah and Omaha beaches. Additionally, Wallace's minesweeper YMS-247 was a part of the Special Sweeping Group that protected the battlecruiser, USS Augusta. USS Augusta was the command ship (General Omar Bradley and Admiral Allan Kirk), for all US Army and Navy forces. This digital exhibit features materials from the Walter L. Wallace, Sr., WWII Collection, which has been generously loaned to Mississippi State University Libraries by his sons Walter L. Wallace, Jr., and Dr. Stephen L. Wallace.