 Eventually, in the summer of 1915, Walter felt he was completely over the effects of typhoid, and succumbed to the Piper's call, volunteering for duty.Though his status as a college man may have made it possible for him to enroll as an officer, he, like his college-educated brother Jem, joined as a regular serviceman and was assigned the rank of private.After training in Canada, and returning to Ingleside for one last visit in July 1915, Walter was shipped to France and fought in the trenches there.