Walter Knapp was born to Albert and Laura Knapp in 1909. He grew up in Seymour Connecticut at 141 Derby Avenue. In 1920, the population of Seymour was only 6,754. When he was 18, Knapp enlisted in Boston Massachussetts and continued to reenlist and serve until his death. In 1939, he married Josephine K Knapp where they moved in together at 46 Church St Newport RI. She became pregnant in 1943. Knapp was 30 at the beginning of World War II, and deployed just a few days before his daughter Mary Jean Houlahan was born. He was killed in 1944.