Biography
Schirra came from an aviation family in Hackensack, New Jersey. Schirra's father, Walter M. Schirra, Sr., who was born in Philadelphia, went to Canada during World War I and earned his pilot rating. He later became a barnstormer. Schirra's mother, Florence Leach Schirra, went along on her husband's barnstorming tours and performed wing walking stunts. By the time he was 15, Wally was flying his father's airplane.
Schirra was a Boy Scout and earned the rank of First Class in Troop 36 in Oradell, New Jersey.
Schirra graduated from Dwight Morrow High School in Englewood, New Jersey in 1940 and attended the Newark College of Engineering, where he was a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity, Alpha Mu Chapter. He was later appointed to the United States Naval Academy and received a Bachelor of Science degree in aeronautical engineering. He graduated in 1945.
He married the former Josephine Fraser of Seattle, Washington on February 23, 1946; she was the step-daughter of Admiral James L. Holloway, Jr.. They had two children: Walter M. Schirra, III, born June 23, 1950 and Suzanne, born September 29, 1957.
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