Walter F. Ram grew up in Nogales, Arizona. His father lost his job during the Great Depression but managed to get small jobs to keep things going. Ram and his brother helped the family income by doing odd jobs. He is happy that he helped the family. Ram joined the Army at 16 years of age despite his mother's disagreement and being underweight. He ate bananas to gain weight and adjusted his year of birth and successfully entered the Army.

Walter Ram went through basic training for the Army. He was discharged after a year in the Army. When the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, he knew that he would be called back into service. He and a friend decided to join the Army Air Forces to avoid being in the infantry. Ram went through several training centers including Scott Field, Illinois where he was trained in radio operation. He had never flown before so when he went to gunnery school and had to fly for the first time, it was quite an experience. When he graduated from radio school, he was promoted from private to staff sergeant. After gunnery school, he made tech sergeant. He began to fly in B-24s [Annotator's Note: Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber]. Later, he was transferred to a B-17 [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. He joined a crew and flew many places in the United States. They were outfitted for overseas deployment but someone sabotaged their equipment. All four engines in every plane in the squadron had to be changed. After three months of repair, the squadron flew to Bassingbourn, England via the northern route. They arrived despite some navigation errors en route.

Walter Ram arrived at his base in Bassingbourn, near London. His plane was part of the 94th Bombardment Group, 331st Squadron, 8th Air Force. His first mission was with a gruff major as the pilot. His crew pilot serving as copilot on the flight. They attacked an enemy airfield near Paris and were assaulted by German fighters. Ram was more intimidated by the gruff pilot of his plane than the enemy aircraft. On his second mission, Ram served as a replacement radio man for another crew. They flew deep into Germany. The third mission was to bomb a submarine installation in Germany. The plane took a 20mm hit in one of its engines. It flamed up and the bomber dropped out of formation. The navigator could not find a proper course for the stricken aircraft. Ram used his radio to find a proper course but the plane continued to lose altitude. Everything was thrown out of the plane to lighten it. Another wounded airplane joined them. As they flew together, the wing fell off the accompanying plane. Its entire crew of ten was lost. It was the plane Ram had flown with previously as a replacement radio man. Ram's plane continued to lose altitude until it hit a series of trees and crash landed in an open field. No one was significantly hurt. They were back in England. They were rescued quickly but had to wait to receive a new plane.

Walter Ram and his fellow crewmates had to wait for another airplane before continuing their bombing missions. A female crew flew a newer model to the men to takeover. The new bomber was a B-17-F [Annotator's Note: Boeing B-17-F Flying Fortress heavy bomber]. They had flown a B-17E before. The navigator on the crew was changed. The bombing group [Annotator's Note: 94th Bombardment Group] was composed of Ram's squadron, the 331st, along with the 332nd, the 333rd and the 410th. The crew's former navigator went to the 410th. Ram and his squadron would bomb the submarine installations in Saint-Nazaire, France and then fly two more missions on sub pens in Germany. While flying the Saint-Nazaire mission, the 410th Squadron was wiped out except for the plane that was navigated by Ram's former crewmate. The fifth mission was normal, but the sixth mission went terribly wrong. Flying in an inverted V formation, Ram's plane was on the tail end of the squadron. The two other tail end aircraft had engine trouble with one pilot faking it because of his "chickening out." That left Ram's ship very vulnerable and the German fighters saw that. The enemy attacked and destroyed the plane killing six of the crew including the pilot in the process. An explosion in the bomb bay knocked Ram down and caused his oxygen mask to come off. He began to lose consciousness but not before he saw the ball turret gunner save his life. That gunner did not survive. Ram remembered nothing more until he woke up in a German hospital being tended by a nurse. He suffered facial wounds from the freezing conditions he suffered. After a few days in that hospital, he was moved to another German hospital. Ram felt the two worst crewmembers on the American bombers were the navigator and the bombardier. [Annotator's Note: The previous navigator on his crew got their plane lost and Ram had to plot the return course to England. The bombs dropped by the bombardiers often missed their targets by large distances.]

Walter Ram was taken from the hospital and transported to Frankfurt am Main, Germany for interrogation. He was threatened with execution by a mean SS interrogator. The enemy knew quite a bit about Ram's background and things that were going on in the United States. Ram refused to give them any answers which infuriated the enemy officer. Ram was next transported to a British POW [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] burn hospital in Berlin. He was treated along with two other Americans for their burns by a British officer captured at Dunkirk. One of the Americans jumped from the hospital and killed himself. Ram got his shoes. Ram stayed there until September 1943 when he was taken to a British POW camp in Poland. En route, the prisoners were marched through German cities and the civilian population would angrily shout "Chicago gangsters" at them. They were marched through Nuremberg prior to reaching a hospital in Augsburg. The hospital was full of German Luftwaffe [Annotator's Note: German Air Force] amputees. While being marched through the city, the populace attempted to attack the prisoners. German soldiers acted in defense of the helpless POWs to prevent executions. Traveling further, the POWs saw the camp and inmates of Dachau. The captives finally reached Stalag VII-A at the village of Moosberg near Munich, Germany. Ram met a future lifelong friend who encouraged him to join his "combine" of five other POWs who aided each other. Ram became number six in "the big combine." After a month, Ram and the others were crammed into boxcars to go to Stalag XVII. It was a long, tortuous and unsanitary journey.

Walter Ram exited the crammed boxcar with the other POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war]. They had trouble moving but were marched to Stalag XVII near Krems, Austria. The camp included British and other Allied prisoners. The Americans had their own compound with long, very crowded barracks. Tunnels were dug from the barrack nearest the fence. Although the men never helped the Germans in any way, they agreed to tear down the barrack closest to the fence. The Germans had promised to let them use the lumber to build an improvised chapel. A Catholic priest captured in North Africa was allowed to perform services. He taught Ram to confess directly to God rather than going through a priest. The camp was well organized. The camp leader and barracks' leaders were all elected by the POWs. The camp could have been taken over by the inmates at any time. News from the outside was spread by POW runners. Radios and cameras were obtained by bribing guards. The equipment had to be hidden well from the guards who often searched for them. The inmates kept close tabs of the progress of the Allies particularly after the D-Day attack on 6 June 1944. The bombing of Dresden provoked Hitler [Annotator's Note: German dictator Adolf Hitler] into ordering the execution of all POWs. His orders were not obeyed. The POWs would have taken over the compound if the guards had attempted to execute them. The inmates were readied for evacuation of the camp. All except those unable to walk were prepared for the march.

Walter Ram and the other POWs [Annotator's Note: prisoner of war] who could walk were marched out of Stalag XVII as the Allies approached. There were four groups of about 500 each. Ram had to scrounge food along the way. They had to watch for the German guards to make sure they were not caught. Ram found chickens to cook and managed to get spaghetti from a generous gypsy lady. A farmer saw the POWs picking his potatoes and chased them away with a pitchfork. The Americans kept some of the potatoes and ate them like apples. Nearly 400 men were lost out of the 4,000 on the march. The prisoners were marched in circles sometimes. Heavy "booms" could be heard mainly from the west. They reached the small town of Brannau which was Hitler's hometown [Annotator's Note: Braunau am Inn was the birthplace of Adolf Hitler, the Nazi dictator of Germany.]. There seemed nowhere else the POWs could be marched because all the German towns had white flags being flown. An American detail in jeeps reached the prisoners. They told the POWs to stay together as a group but identify the guards that had treated them badly. Those guards were taken to another location and shot. About half the guards were executed. The freed prisoners went into the town where Hitler was born. The men Ram was with were harboring anger but had no way to take it out on the civilians except to urinate on the front of their houses. [Annotator's Note: Ram laughs.] They found food and awaited American troops. During the march, Ram lost six of his toenails because of ill-fitting shoes. American trucks transported the freed men to an old aluminum factory where they stayed for a few days. The men were then flown to Reims, France aboard C-47s [Annotator's Note: Douglas C-47 Skytrain transport aircraft]. At Reims, they were given warm showers, fumigation, and new uniforms. The meals had to be bland diet and small portions because their stomachs had shrunk. The men were then transported by train to Le Havre and Camp Lucky Strike on their way home.

Walter Ram left Europe by ship on 3 June [Annotator's Note: 3 June 1945], and reached the United States on 11 June. Red Cross ladies provided them donuts. The men checked into Camp Shanks and were given leave to return home. Ram was joyously reunited with his family including his fourth brother who had been in the Pacific from January 1942 until April 1945. Ram learned at that time that his three other brothers had died in the Pacific and his father was dying of cancer. His best day turned into his worse day with that news. Ram had a difficult time adjusting to civilian life. He developed a drinking problem as a result of his experiences. He returned to high school to complete his education while he worked at night. He eventually attended college, too. All that helped him through his PTSD [Annotator's Note: post traumatic stress disorder] which they referred to as "shell shock" at that time.