"Corporal Brostrom Dies on Battlefield For Democracy," declared the Santa Cruz Sentinel.

Walter F. Brostrom was born September 14, 1893, to Andrew and Gertrude Brostrom in the small Santa Cruz Mountain community of Eccles, located north of Felton on Zayante Creek. Walter, along with three brothers, Emil, Herman and Frederick and a sister, Annie, spent his formative years in Santa Cruz County attending local schools. Sometime prior to 1917, Brostrom left the area and moved to southern California where he found employment. In the spring of 1917 he relocated to Lake Tahoe where he worked as a hotel bellman before returning to Santa Cruz.

On May 28, 1917, Brostrom registered for the draft and was described as being of medium height and stature, with red hair and brown eyes. When his application for an exemption due to poor health was denied, Walter volunteered to be inducted in the first call. He was subsequently drafted in October and probably received his basic training at Camp Lewis, Washington. Upon completion of his infantry instruction he was assigned to the 4th Infantry Division, 58th Infantry Regiment and promoted to corporal.

During the spring of 1918, Walter was shipped to France. In early October his unit was fighting its way through the many forests surrounding the city of Brieulles and had gained a foothold in the area of Bois de Fays. Government records indicate that Brostrom died on October 7, 1918, in the Meuse-Argonne area of France. The cause of his death has not been found and may have resulted from other than combat causes. Walter Brostrom was buried in the Meuse- Argonne American Cemetery at Romagne, France.

(CAG; 1900 US Census, CA, San Lorenzo; WIKI; 4th Infantry Division; SCSn December 6, 1918 2:3, WEP December 09, 1918 3:8; WWIDR; ABMC)