A former St. Joseph man’s participation in World War II became enshrined in Europe this year.

Bennett Walker, a former St. Joseph resident and a highly decorated soldier, hasn’t talked much about his activities in World War II.

Until this summer, Mr. Walker’s daughter Brenda Wegenka didn’t know the details — only that he’d received a lot of medals.

“He’d given me the medals, but I didn’t know what they were,” Mrs. Wegenka said. And Mr. Walker’s seven great-grandchildren didn’t know anything either.

If pushed, he’ll say he served in the U.S. Army’s Third Division starting in Africa, stayed in the military and retired from the Air Force 22 years later, Mrs. Wegenka said.

What he doesn’t mention is his being awarded two Silver Star medals, two Bronze Star medals, three Purple Heart medals, an Army Commendation Medal, the French Croix de Guerre with Palm and a combat infantryman badge, as well as rows of campaign and service medals.

Mrs. Wegenka and her father were supposed to go to Europe in May to sightsee some places Mr. Walker had seen in World War II. She thought she’d learn a little more about her father, but illness three weeks before the trip ended that plan, Mrs. Wegenka said.

But he did give his records to his daughter and she started finding out some things about him.

Mr. Walker grew up in St. Joseph, one of five brothers who all served in the military. He enlisted in the Army in 1940, fighting with the Third Division starting in North Africa and moving on to France and Germany.

On April 17, 1945, Mr. Bennett, then a staff sergeant, single-handedly attacked seven enemy riflemen near Tennenlohe, Germany.

“... He ran over flat and open terrain directly towards the enemy position, firing his ‘tommy gun’ as he advanced,” as stated in his Silver Star Award.

Two Germans were killed and five others captured.

The next day, while moving through a large cemetery near Nuremberg, Germany, his reconnaissance patrol drew heavy enemy fire. He dashed to each member of the patrol and directed their withdraw while providing covering fire.

“Half an hour later, Staff Sergeant Walker crawled back alone into the cemetery, and captured a prisoner whose information subsequently enabled a friendly unit to capture 108 Germans in the cemetery,” his Silver Star Award records state.

But raising the flag about a month later in a German town that was a resort area for Nazis is what brought his action to the attention of people in Germany and America.

Stephen Ambrose’s book “Band of Brothers” and the HBO mini-series of the same name report on Easy Company’s occupation of Berchtesgaden and the surrounding area. And the record books certainly say that the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment’s Easy Company did occupy the Nazi’s resorts. What the book and television show don’t say is which group of soldiers first captured Hitler’s retreat and the area around Berchtesgaden before Easy Company.

The day was May 5, 1945. The Third Infantry Division was moving across southern Germany. Soldiers in the division’s 7th Infantry Regiment would be first in Berchtesgaden. But they didn’t stay. The division ordered the regiment to head on to Salzburg, Austria. That’s why Easy Company didn’t know someone was there before them, according to multiple historical reference materials.

Mr. Walker was the platoon sergeant of the lead platoon in L Company that day. It was his duty to be one of the two soldiers who raised the flag for the division at Obersalzberg, the Nazi resort located above Berchtesgaden. And someone took a picture 63 years ago of Mr. Walker raising that flag.

In May, historians, German dignitaries and members of the division enshrined a copy of that photograph in a memorial to the Third Division at Obersalzberg. Third Division historians sent Mrs. Wegenka documentation on the ceremonies. Now she’s piecing together information on some of the other medals he earned, because her father, like many other veterans, still doesn’t want to discuss the war.

Marshall White can be reached

at marshall@npgco.com.