Walter McNeely was born in St. Paul, Minnesota [Annotator’s Note: in April 1927]. During the Great Depression [Annotator's Note: The Great Depression was a global economic depression that lasted from 1929 through 1939 in the United States], his family relocated to Englewood, outside of Chicago proper, but returned to St. Paul yearly to visit family. He had two sisters. His uncle died in World War 1 and McNeely was named after him. McNeely grew up with a German grandmother in Chicago on his mother’s side and spoke German often. His knowledge of the German language helped McNeely during his experience in World War 2. His family never discussed the rising hostilities in Germany or Japan before the war. McNeely does not recall where he was when he heard about Pearl Harbor [Annotator's Note: The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on 7 December 1941], but he remembered being concerned. He went to a Catholic elementary school and attended a seminary school for high school. After he decided he did not have a calling for the priesthood, he wanted to enter the service. He went to Fort Sheridan, Illinois and chose to volunteer for the Army. He was shipped to Camp Roberts, California for basic training. McNeely did not mind training overall. He took jungle training and figured he was going to be sent to the Pacific. However, after basic training, he was shipped to Europe from Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. During the voyage, his ship lost its rudder, so they had to stop in Italy. After the ship was repaired, McNeely set sail again and landed in Cherbourg, France. At this point, McNeely thought his experience was an adventure. He remembered that when he landed in Cherbourg the weather conditions were rainy and snowy. His unit camped out and lived on K-rations [Annotator's Note: individual daily combat food ration consisting of three boxed meals]. The local French civilians were starving and fought over any food that the troops gave them.

Walter McNeely was sent overseas to France and fought through the hedgerows [Annotator's Note: man-made earthen walls that surround a field that are often overgrown with impenetrable vegetation]. As he neared Strasbourg [Annotator’s Note: Strasbourg, France], McNeely and six other men who spoke a foreign language were pulled to the side. They were sent back to the United States and underwent thorough intensive training, taught local customs, and espionage tactics. He was taught how to pass as a German. They were put into groups and dropped into Germany which was where the main headquarters to the panzer [Annotator's Note: panzer is the German term for armored and typically refers to tanks] division was located. He worked the French Underground, Belgium Underground, and German Underground, also known as Kripo. McNeely became involved with the Hitler Jugend [Annotator's Note: a youth organization of the Nazi Party for young men] attending parties and meeting young girls. He met one girl that invited him to her house to meet her parents. The girl’s father ended up being the chief of police in the area and became very helpful to McNeely’s mission and identified certain Germans that were to be prosecuted. McNeely shared a time when some Germans did not trust him and brought him and his partner to a farmhouse where they tied their hands together and planned to interrogate them the next morning. McNeely and his partner were able to get loose and break out of the farmhouse during the night. He and his partner separated, and the next morning, McNeely found his partner dead in a field with his stomach carved out. McNeely contacted the underground and returned to them. Another time, McNeely sold newspapers and kept his ears open for information that could be relevant to the American cause. He spent almost two and half months searching for Martin Bormann [Annotator’s Note: Martin Ludwig Bormann, a German Nazi Party official and head of the Nazi Party Chancellery].

During World War 2, Walter McNeely was working as a spy in Germany, collecting information to pass on to the French Underground and military intelligence. As the war progressed, McNeely moved through Germany collecting information from concentration camps and towns. McNeely helped liberate Bergen-Belsen [Annotator's Note: Bergen-Belsen concentration camp near Bergen, Germany], and then Buchenwald [Annotator's Note: Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany]. He was successful in apprehending Ilse Koch [Annotator’s Note: Ilse Koch, a German war criminal who was an overseer at Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Majdanek; infamous for sadistic treatment of prisoners], who was the wife of Karl-Otto Koch [Annotator’s Note: Karl-Otto Koch, an SS commander and first commandant of the Nazi concentration camps at Buchenwald and Sachsenhausen]. Koch allegedly engaged in gruesome experiments such as selecting tattooed prisoners to be murdered and skinned to retrieve the tattooed parts of their bodies. He came across a baby factory where young German girls were impregnated to produce heirs for the Aryan cause [Annotator’s Note: may be referring to the Lebensborn program]. The sight of the people in a concentration camp is unforgettable. He always carried two cyanide tablets in case he was tortured for information. He helped liberate about five concentration camps by war’s end. He stayed in a house where a group of SS [Annotator's Note: Schutzstaffel; German paramilitary organization; abbreviated SS] men had been hung for their part in the war. His mission at this time was to go from town to town collecting information and fining those that had collaborated with the Germans. Many people were reluctant to say anything, so the collection of information was difficult. He often talked to young kids and asked them who they knew talked to Germans. For one mission he was sent to Kiska, Alaska to question the Russians about their involvement with the Germans. He found pictures of himself and some others in the espionage program. McNeely was quickly pulled from the mission and shipped home at the end of 1946. He landed in Camp Kilmer, New Jersey.

In 1946, Walter McNeely was shipped from Europe to Camp Kilmer, New Jersey. He and a friend bought some bananas and went and saw the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall [Annotator’s Note: in New York City, New York]. He was shipped back to Fort Sheridan [Annotator’s Note: Fort Sheridan, Illinois] to be discharged. He was so relieved to be back home in the United States. During his time in Europe, he really did not eat much because the Germans did not have any food. By the time McNeely was discharged from the OSS [Annotator’s Note: The Office of Strategic Services was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II], the program had been divided between the United States Counterintelligence Corps (CIC) and the Criminal Investigation Division (CID). He never wore insignia on his uniform so military personnel could identify him as a special agent and were required to answer any of his questions, no matter their rank. After he was discharged, he was held in the Reserves for about five years, but was never called back to service. When he was working as a spy in Europe, his goal was to gain the confidence of the person he was trying to collect information from. When he was interrogating city officials, he used information he collected to make them talk and give him more information. He only had one close call of being caught, but was able to get out of the situation. [Annotator’s Note: Video break at 0:53:35.000.] After the war, he worked at a bank sorting checks for two months, then began working as a bookkeeper. He stayed for 46 years at the same bank, becoming president in 1971. He attended night school in banking and accounting. He retired as chairman and CEO in 1992. McNeely adjusted to civilian life easily because he constantly stayed busy working and renovating a house he bought for his family. He never talked about his war experiences to his family until later in life.

Walter McNeely hated the Neo-Nazi movement in the United States and became fearful that it would be discovered that he was in the OSS [Annotator’s Note: The Office of Strategic Services was the intelligence agency of the United States during World War II] during World War 2. He also feared that the Hitler Youth [Annotator's Note: a youth organization of the Nazi Party for young men] was growing in the United States. His most memorable experience of World War 2 was liberating people from the concentration camps. He was motivated to serve in World War 2 because he had an adventurous spirit and felt compelled to serve his country. His service made him appreciate his life and realize that life is precious. He was glad to be part of saving his country. McNeely believes there should be institutions like the National WWII Museum [Annotator's Note: The National World War II Museum in New Orleans, Louisiana], and that we should continue to teach World War 2 to future generations. He believes that the subject is not taught in schools and should be because of the freedom we have as a result of the war. People need to appreciate the freedoms we have in America. He applauded the people that found Eichmann [Annotator’s Note: Otto Adolf Eichmann was a German-Austrian SS-Obersturmbannführer and one of the major organizers of the Holocaust] and brought him to trial in Israel.