Lillian R. Walla
U.S. Army Nurse Corps
2015
Lillian Walla grew up on Long Island, attended Westbury High and graduated from nursing
school at St. Mary’s Hospital in Brooklyn. She began her nursing career at the Marine Hospital
on Staten Island, and in 1944 joined the Army Nurses Corps, completing her basic training in
Atlantic City as a 2nd Lieutenant. In late 1944, Lillian shipped overseas to serve at the 235th
General Hospital in Marseille, France, receiving wounded and sick personnel as well as enlisted
German prisoners of war who were coming in from field hospitals to the safe zone. Lillian
returned to the States in 1946.
Albert Walla grew up on a 160-acre farm, in rural Clarkson, Nebraska, population 100. After
graduating from Clarkson High and while attending the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, studying mechanical engineering, he was called to active duty. Al received his officer’s training at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, and was a 1st Lieutenant when he went overseas in 1944 to serve in southern France at the Delta Base Command with the 1324th Engineer General Service Regiment. In 1945 he served another 18 months in Okinawa and the Philippines, returning to the States in late 1946.
Lillian and Al met in January 1945 at a USO dance in Marseille, married on Long Island two years later, and returned to Nebraska where Al completed his degree and Lillian worked in the nursery at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital. From Nebraska, the Wallas moved to Delaware, where Al worked at DuPont as an engineer and Lillian at Wilmington General in its premature nursery.
They moved to Stamford in 1968 where Al worked for Chemico and then General Electric. Over their nearly 50 years in Stamford, the Wallas raised five children – Rosemary, Janice, Albert Jr., Nancy and
John and have seven grandchildren and three great grands – and have been active in our community with a variety of groups, particularly with Red Cross Blood Drives..