Walter West Burnham

When Walter West Burnham was born on January 24, 1888, in Tower City, North Dakota, his father, ARTHUR, was 32 and his mother, EVA Mae West, was 26. He had four brothers and three sisters. His family lived in North Dakota during the "Great Dakota Boom". His family moved south and eventually ended up near White, SD. He signed his draft registration on June 5, 1917.

 

Walter was a member of the 53rd Balloon Company of the Air Service. He was mustered in to the company in Fort Omaha, Nebraska. The company ended up in Morrison, Virginia and there is no indication that he served oversees.

 

After the service he spent time living in both Duluth. MN and Brookings, SD (he lived with his sister Evelyn Rickerl when not employed and helped on their family farm). He worked for American Steel and Wire Co., of Morgan Park, Duluth, MN. He died on December 22, 1969, in Knoxville, Iowa, at the age of 81, and was buried in White, South Dakota.

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53rd Balloon Company Air Service

United States Army balloon squadrons and companies organized under the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps and served overseas with the United States Army Air Service before and during World War I. There were also French, British, and German balloon corps.

The history of military ballooning includes the American Civil War era Union Army Balloon Corps and the even earlier French Aerostatic Corps.

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At the start of World War I, the organization of the Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force included observation balloon units organized into companies, squadrons, and wings and each company was equipped with one balloon. Five companies comprised a squadron, and three squadrons made up a wing. By the end of the war 110 companies had been created. In the field Balloon companies were allotted to the ground units they supported as needed. In 1918 June, with squadron organization discontinued, company designations were numbered and organized into groups. Only 35 companies made it to France with the American Expeditionary Force (AEF). 17 companies served at the front, making 1,642 combat ascensions, while six other groups were en route to the front at the armistice.

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_observation_balloon_service_in_World_War_I

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