Walter E. Lauer

Major General Walter E. Lauer (29 June 1893 – 13 October 1966) was a senior United States Army officer who fought in both World War I and World War II. During World War II he commanded the 99th Infantry Division in the Battle of the Bulge. The green troops of the 99th, along with the battle-tested 2nd Infantry Division, held a key sector controlling access to Spa and Liege and large repositories of ammunition, fuel, and supplies. Despite being outnumbered by German forces at least five to one, during the Battle of Elsenborn Ridge they did not yield. It was the only sector of the American front lines during the German offensive where the Germans failed to advance.

Early life Walter Ernst Lauer was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Albert and Anna Rehlmeyer Lauer. He attended Cornell University, and left in his junior year to enlist in the United States Army for World War I. He completed training at Madison Barracks, New York, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Infantry Branch. He attended the School of Small Arms from 1917 to 1918. He married Lily Grace Hunter of East Hampton. Massachusetts on June 9, 1918, and they had two children, Helen Ivy Bohin and Hunter Lauer.

Military service World War I During World War I he served overseas with the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) on the Western Front in the First Army as an adjutant in III Corps Schools and received a temporary promotion to first lieutenant on June 17, 1918, while he was serving in the 1st Division.

Interwar years He was on occupation duty in Coblenz for four years after the war. Lauer was promoted to captain on 1 July 1920. His daughter, Helen Ivy Lauer, was born July 1921 in Koblenz. during World War II (although the United States was neutral at this point), and later at Fort Lewis, Washington, he was appointed G-4 of the 3rd Infantry Division.

Lauer retired from military service on 31 March 1946, but worked in Europe for the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration until early 1947.

Later life He returned to the United States and moved to Monterey, California, near Fort Ord, the successor to Gigling Reservation, which he helped found and build in 1941 and 1942. Lauer had an open door policy to anyone who wanted to drop by at 3:00 on any afternoon to pass the time and say hello. Lauer died of cancer on 13 October 1966, at the Fort Ord Army Hospital. He was inurned at the Golden Gate National Cemetery near San Francisco on 15 October 1966. He requested that he be buried in a plain pine box, like any other soldier, which was honored. On 16 February 1974, his wife of 48 years was buried beside him.