Walter Edward Yerkes, 85, a native of Illinois and resident of Spanish Fort, died Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2008.
He served 30 years in the U.S. Army during Wold War II, Korea, and Vietnam, and retired as a lieutenant colonel. During World War II, he served in an experimental self-propelled artillery battalion attached to the British Army. He was involved in the D-Day Invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. At the end of the war his unit was attached to General Patton's Army in Checkslovokia.
After World War II, he returned to college and graduated from the University of Nebraska with a B.S. in petroleum chemistry.
Survivors include his loving wife of 62 years: Betty Yerkes of Spanish Fort; son, Karl Yerkes of Elk City, Ind.; daughter, Kolleen Denton of Daphne; sister, Sally Davis; three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
Arrangements are by Wolfe-Bayview Funeral Homes & Crematory Inc., Daphne.
