My Hero

My Hero
My Hero

My father Walter T. McNeely is literally my hero.

My father is Walter Thomas Joseph Patrick McNeely and he literally is my hero! He was born to an Irish father and German mother. He was born at his home in St. Paul, MN on Easter Sunday. My Grandfather wanted to name him Walter Thomas and my Grandmother wanted to name him Joseph so they named him Walter Thomas Joseph and he took Patrick as his confirmation name (after his dad). When he was younger my grandmother taught him to speak German. He was the youngest of 3 children. My Dad went to the Quigley Seminary when he was a teenager. I think my grandmother was hoping he would become a priest. However, when my father was 17 he fabricated his age to join the army. This was during WWII. He was always very young looking and because he spoke fluent German they put him into the OSS (which is now the CIA) and he became a spy for the Americans infiltrating the "Hitler Youth Group". He was instrumental in the capture of concentration camp kommandants. At one point my dad and his partner were captured. His partner slipped up when asked a question in German. They were kept in a basement and my Dad recalls ants crawling all over them. To this day he hates ants. They were able to escape and my Dad got away but unfortunately his partner did not. Deuteronomy 31:6 - "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the Lord your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." My father is very humble. We didn't hear about any of this until I was in Jr. High. Even my mother didn't know some of what happened. All active news articles