Our relatives in the serviceOur relatives in the serviceTHE CIVIL WAR 1861-65
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Alexander Robert Fortune Alexander Robert Fortune was born in 1814 in New York State. He was the youngest of nine sons of John and Kate Fortune who came from Northern Scotland to America in 1788. The origin of the name Fortune is Irish so the family at one time crossed over from Ireland to Scotland. Alexander married Abigail Emry Royce in 1836 and moved to Lake Zurich, Illinois, northwest of Chicago, where all ten of their children were born. The children were: William, Marion, John, Robert, Abigail, Lenore, Franklin and Fannie (twins), George and Cornelia. Alexander's oldest brother Will, was a soldier in the Civil war and was taken prisoner and on his return to Illinois he was a sick man and never seemed to get well after that. Alexander was also in the Civil war but he and Will were not in the same Colorado company. Alexander Robert Fortune died at 52 years of age from some intestinal trouble (perhaps appendicitis) in 1866 after the Civil war. |
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George Harrison Means George Harrison Means was born Feb 24, 1843 in Hoopole County, Indiana. He was a member of the 83rd Infantry, Illinois Volunteers. He was a Private in Company H. He enlisted on August 7, 1862 and mustered out on June 26, 1865. The 83rd Infantry was organized at Monmouth, Ill in August 1862, by Col. A. C. Harding and disbanded June 26, 1865. Discharge and final pay was at Chicago, Ill. He was married to Amanda Ellen Lionberger on Dec 29, 1867. George and Amanda had nine children. William, Lawrence, Florence, Olough, Warren, Anna, Minnie, Lenna and Pearl. George died on Jan 5, 1914 in Protection, Kansas. |
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John Archibald Fortune John Archibald Fortune was born in 1843 in Lake Zurich, Illinois. He served as a sergeant in Company K, 2nd Regiment, Colorado Calvary in the Civil War. He volunteered on November 23, 1862 and was discharged on September 23, 1865 at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. His discharge papers show that he was born in Ely, Illinois, was 19 years of age, five feet 10 and 1/2 inches tall, fair complexion, blue eyes, dark hair and his occupation at time of enrollment was miner. Upon discharge he received a penson of $18.00 per month n 1912, $24 a mth in 1913 and $30. a month from Mar 1, 1918 He first married his cousin Mary Royce and they had four children, Orlin, Robert, John, Maude and Ira. Mary died in 1879 and John married Carrie Myrick Ryder on August 6, 1880. Carrie was born in Holland, Michigan in 1864. They had nine children, Fred, Marie Lula, Roland, Fanny, Dewey, Grace, George and Vera. John and his family moved to South Dakota in 1873. John Fortune died in Palo Alto on October 5, 1919 and Carrie died in 1941 at Palo Alto. |
Petty
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Rollie
Petty, |
John Cook,
U. S. Army
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World War II |
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In March of 1944 his crew picked up a British rocket ship #439 at Troon, Scotland. George organized training the new crews in ship handling, docking, engines, signals, etc. He went to Radar School at Hayling Island in Southern England to learn the British Blind bombing techniques and stayed over night in London and experienced bombing twice. The ship was transferred to a new base on River Dart in May, and their headquarters were in Agatha Christie's house in Southern England. George was an executive officer, second in command on an LCTR 439 (Landing Craft Tank Rocket) during the Allied Invasion of Europe on June 6, 1944. click here for D-day After the invasion in June of 1944 they went to Bizerte, Algiers and in July were heading north to the Southern France invasion where they stopped a day and night in Naples for fuel and provisions. The entrance to the harbor was full of sunken ships.which had been damaged by the Germans to keep the Allies from using them and that harbor. They were anchored in Ajacio bay before and after the invasion. They went to New York in September aboard the Army troop ship General Meggs and ran into a terrible storm with over 50 foot waves. This didn't bother the men at all as the sailors were all crowded around gambling and having a good time. In October of 1944, George was assigned to Commanding Officers Training at the Little Creek Amphibias training base which was near Norfolk, Virginia. He was assigned his officers and crew and marched in review every Saturday with a big marching band. They practiced all week on the Chesapeak Bay in ship handling, communications and navigation. He had 133 men in his crew and 7 officers, gunnery officer (Al Onofrio) was with George in his old rocket group as well as his chief bosun mate and quarter master (Charles Ewald). George put the LSMR 408 in commission in April or May of 1945 making trial runs in the Chesapeak until they passed all tests by a board of review. They were very stringent about response time to general quarters, fire drills, damage control, radio and visual signaling, ship and small boat handling, plus ships status for combat. (firing guns and rockets) They went through the Panama Canal with the LSMR 407 in the lead because her captain was senior officer in time and service. They practiced a few days with the other 11 rocket ships and loaded rockets and ammunition at Seal Beach, below Long Beach. The day before they were to leave, the A bomb on Hiroshima (Aug 1945). They left the next day and were under way when peace was declared and stayed in Hawaii two weeks until they came home to San Diego harbor. From there they went to Seattle to unload our rockets but the Navy sent us back to San Diego still loaded. George took over his division in October and ran it until he got out at the end of April 1946. They were in 1 week and out for 2 weeks, practicing manuevers, rocket, mortar and anti-aircraft defense with the other guns. George turned the ship over the the new commanding officer
and took the next few days to sign papers, pick up a check, have
a physical and say "sayonara" to the service. He stayed
on as inactive duty for about 10 years. *(they were better known as 90 day wonders) |
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George
E. Allen, He served in the U. S. Army Air Force Quartermaster Corp as a sergeant, from October 1939 to November 1945. His duty was in California and New Mexico and then two years in Europe. Pord Allen's war experiences |
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Donald
Henry Allen, |
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Frank
Edward Bumb, |
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George Bumb, U. S. Coast Guard |
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Idell
Jane Allen, |
