Walter Gajek
(1895-1918)
Embedded Files
Private First Class/Cook Walter Gajek, signature on WWI draft registration
SS Olympic
A cook preparing food on a charcoal fire at the front, 1915
Poem by Siegfried Sassoon
6115 Heisley Ave., Cleveland, Ohio, address given on WWI draft registration
Walter [aka Wladys] Gajek
[This soldier's name was misspelled as Walter Gazek on the original List of Liberty Names. The name Wladys may be a shortened form of the traditional slavic name Wladyslaw, which translates to "to rule" or "ruler of glory."]
*No plaque found
*The List of Liberty Row Names indicates the possible original location of the plaque.
*No soldier photograph found in the following book: Doyle, A. C., Haulsee, W. M., Howe, F. G. Soldiers of the Great War. Washington, DC: Soldiers Record Publishing Company, 1920.
Birth: New Year's Day, 1/1/1895, Russia-Poland
Birth: New Year's Day, 1/1/1895, Russia-Poland
Address: 6115 Heisley Ave., Cleveland, Ohio [in Cleveland's historic Slavic Village neighborhood]
Demographics: age 22 at draft registration; single; Caucasian; citizenship status Alien; occupation Operating Machine Punch Press at Cleveland [illegible] Co.; per 1915 City Directory occupation Laborer
Appearance: Height medium, Build medium, Eyes brown, Hair brown
Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/5/1917; 8/2/1917; Private First Class/Cook
Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: 6/5/1917; 8/2/1917; Private First Class/Cook
Service Number: 560944
Deployment: 5/5/1918 from New York, NY aboard SS Olympic
Action:
Death: August 22, 1918 at age 23; cause of death Non-Battle Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wounds
Death: August 22, 1918 at age 23; cause of death Non-Battle Self-Inflicted Gunshot Wounds
Burial: 8/22/1918 buried at American Cemetery at Is-sur-Tille, Cote-d'Or, France [The village of Is-sur-Tille was the location of Camp Williams, the largest U.S. Army Logistics Base in France during WWI, which processed up to 24,000 soldiers per day and had a massive bakery that could produce up to 365 tons of bread per day. It is possible that PFC/Cook Walter Gajek worked there.]; 11/3/1920 remains disinterred and prepared for return to the U.S. arriving Bordeaux 11/10/1920; 11/29/1920 remains shipped from Bordeaux to Hoboken, NJ aboard SS Wheaton arriving Hoboken 12/15/1920; 1/11/1921 remains shipped from Hoboken to Cleveland, OH arriving 1/13/1921 to the care of Mrs. Florence Kjinska [multiple spellings of this surname], presumably sister, 6623 Chambers Ave., Cleveland, OH and J. W. Slejek Jr. [?Undertaker]; final burial at Calvary Cemetery, 10000 Miles Ave., Cleveland, OH, [no location of grave or photo of grave posted on Calvary Cemetery's website as of 2026]
Burial: 8/22/1918 buried at American Cemetery at Is-sur-Tille, Cote-d'Or, France [The village of Is-sur-Tille was the location of Camp Williams, the largest U.S. Army Logistics Base in France during WWI, which processed up to 24,000 soldiers per day and had a massive bakery that could produce up to 365 tons of bread per day. It is possible that PFC/Cook Walter Gajek worked there.]; 11/3/1920 remains disinterred and prepared for return to the U.S. arriving Bordeaux 11/10/1920; 11/29/1920 remains shipped from Bordeaux to Hoboken, NJ aboard SS Wheaton arriving Hoboken 12/15/1920; 1/11/1921 remains shipped from Hoboken to Cleveland, OH arriving 1/13/1921 to the care of Mrs. Florence Kjinska [multiple spellings of this surname], presumably sister, 6623 Chambers Ave., Cleveland, OH and J. W. Slejek Jr. [?Undertaker]; final burial at Calvary Cemetery, 10000 Miles Ave., Cleveland, OH, [no location of grave or photo of grave posted on Calvary Cemetery's website as of 2026]
Next of Kin: Miss [sic-may be Mrs.] Florence Kijinski [multiple spellings of this surname] is listed as a friend but is presumably his married sister, 6623 Chambers Ave., Cleveland, OH
Additional Information: Parents: No definitive information was found. An Andrew Gajek [relation unknown] (1876-1918) is buried at Calvary Cemetery, Cleveland, OH; Sibling: Florence Kijinski [multiple spellings of this surname] appears to have been PFC/Cook Walter Gajek's sister. Her husband was Wojciech Kijinski (1874-1926). She may have remarried someone with the surname Staszak. The Cleveland Necrology File records her as buried at Calvary Cemetery, but there is no record of her on the cemetery website as of 2026.
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