| Born in
Pennsylvania, Palmer N. Wagner was the middle child of three born to Walter J. and Viola C. Wagner. By 1930, the
family had moved to Herkimer, New York, where Palmer's father worked as a General Store
Keeper in a Typewriter factory and his brother, Alvin, as an osteopathic physician in a
general practice.
Palmer served his tour with the 79th Battalion Headquarters Company during their tour in
the Aleutians, the Company organized on 1 February 1943 and forming the nucleus of the
Battalion, including storekeepers, yeomen, hospital corpsmen, mail clerks, and other
administrative personnel needed to balance and maintain the Battalion.
After his tour with the 79th Battalion Seabees, Palmer Wagner
returned to his hometown Herkimer, New York where he worked at a furniture manufacturing
plant most of the time he lived there until his death. Palmer married a school
teacher named Mary. A close neighbor of Palmer remembers him as one of the nicest
people that they have ever known. "He was kind, with a happy go-lucky manner
and was always nice to the kids in the neighborhood. Mary, his wife, was also a very
nice person who seemed to always see the best of situations." Palmer and Mary
did not have any children.
In August 1969, just 25 years
after his Aleutian tour with the 79th Battalion Seabees, Palmer N. Wagner succumbed
to bone cancer and entered eternal rest at the age of 57, His wife, Mary, joined him
twenty-eight years later in eternal rest in August of 1997.
.... This memorial tribute is given to 79th Battalion Seabee Palmer N. Wagner
for the service and sacrifice which he gave in World War II and throughout his life. |
