Hugh K. “Jack” Walters, a World War II infantryman who fought with Gen. George S. Patton Jr.’s 3rd Army and was wounded during the Battle of Metz in France, died Sunday of complications from dementia at the Edenwald retirement community in Towson.

He was 92.

The son of George Frederick Walters, a mechanic, and Margaret Kennedy Walters, a homemaker, Hugh Kennedy Walters was born in Baltimore and raised on West 27th Street in Remington.

Mr. Walters was attending Polytechnic Institute when he was drafted into the Army in 1943. After completing basic training at Camp Beauregard and Camp Claiborne, both in Louisiana, he underwent further training at Camp Howze in Texas.

He was assigned to the 90th Infantry Division — nicknamed “The Tough ’Ombres” — and after completing training at Fort Meade, boarded the troopship SS Brazil in July 1944 for Europe.

“There were maybe 1,000 soldiers on it,” Mr. Walters told his daughter, Barbara A. Smith of Hampstead, who recorded his World War II recollections.

It took the ship 14 days to reach Scotland, with the final leg aboard a British troopship. “I was only seasick for a day or two,” he told his daughter.

After spending a brief time at a camp in Crewkerne, England, Mr. Walters and his unit landed at Omaha Beach in Normandy in August 1944 and made their way across France to Metz.

The Battle of Metz commenced in late September 1944 and ended in mid-Decemeber.

At Metz, the 90th Infantry Division’s mission was to cross the Moselle River and capture and occupy Metz and nearby Fort Koenigsmacher, which was a command post and a German officers training school.

The strategic value of gaining control of the fort meant Alliedf forces would have control of the Moselle River and the area to the east, and after an 11-day battle, the German fort surrendered.

It was during this battle that Mr. Walters was seriously wounded. He was carrying “mortar shells, an M-1 rifle and two packs of composition explosives” that were to be used in the destruction of the fort, he told his daughter.

As he was moving up a hill, he was hit, and he remembered hearing someone shouting, “Dig in! Dig in!”

Mr. Walters said he called for a medic and asked, “My arm — is it still there?” After the medic gave him an injection to prevent infection, he was told, “You’ll be all right.”

The medic then carried him to the 90th Infantry Division’s field aid station, from which Mr. Walters and other wounded soldiers were to be transferred across the Moselle River. But they were forced to wait because heavy rains had caused the river to flood.

Several days later he was transferred to the 106th Evacuation Hospital in Etampes, France, and finally to England.

Mr. Walters had suffered a severed radial nerve and a compound fracture, and he carried carried shrapnel in his arm for the rest of his life.

In the spring of 1945, Mr. Walters boarded the Queen Mary with other wounded soldiers for a voyage to New York. He was sent to Halloran General Hospital and finally to McGuire General Hospital in Richmond, Va.

Mr. Walters told his daughter he remembered that as the Queen Mary steamed past the Statue of Liberty, a recording of the Andrew Sisters singing “Rum and Coca-Cola” was playing aboard the ship.

After 54 weeks in hospitals, Mr. Walters was discharged with the rank of private.

Some of his decorations, which he kept framed and mounted on a wall, included the Purple Heart, Bronze Star, Rifle Marksman Badge and Combat Infantryman’s Badge.

“He didn’t talk about the war like most other World War II veterans,” said his son, George J. Walters of Hamilton.

“He never complained about his arm even though it destroyed his ability to play baseball. He simply picked up his life and moved on,” he said.

In 1946, Mr. Walters went to work as a heavy equipment operator for Whiting-Turner construction firm, from which he retired in the 1980s.

He was an active member of Operating Engineers Local No. 37.

A longtime resident of Glen Eagle Road in the Loch Raven neighborhood of Baltimore County, Mr. Walters was a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars, as well as the Cresmont Social Club in Hampden.

For years, he decorated veterans’ graves with flags for Memorial Day.

Mr. Walters, who had lived at Edenwald for the last 12 years, had been an avid fan of the old Baltimore Colts and also followed the Orioles.

Mr. Walters and another Poly student, Frank Barrett, who had both left school before receiving their diplomas because of World War II, returned in 2003 for a ceremony honoring them. They were presented their diplomas, with Mr. Walters’ family giving him a Poly ring to mark the occasion.

“It really feels odd,” Mr. Walters told The Baltimore Sun at the time. “My grandchildren graduated from college before I officially graduated from Poly, my high school. I have no regrets.”

His wife of 56 years, the former Margaret Naomi Presley, died in 2002.

Mr. Walters was a communicant of Immaculate Heart of Mary Roman Catholic Church, 8501 Loch Raven Blvd. in Baynesville, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a.m. today.

In addition to his son and daughter, Mr. Walters is survived by a sister, Jane Walters of Remington; four grandchildren; eight great-grandchildren; and three great-great-grandchildren.

frasmussen@baltsun.com