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Robert Allemore
United
States Army – Korean War -
Battery D, 182nd
Battalion
Robert Allemore was
trained at Ft.
Bliss, Texas in 1952. After basic training, he was sent to Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania
and later stationed in the Pittsburg, Pennsylvania area.
He began
his duty serving as a Private and was promoted to Corporal after 8 months of
service. He was discharged in 1953. His
wife Gee Gee served faithfully by his side.
Robert was already married and had a baby when he was
drafted into the army. He and his wife
lived off post in Bridgefield; therefore, he did not get to know many of the
men very well that was in his outfit.
The men of Company D arrived by bus to Logan Heights, Pa after their basic training in
Ft. Bliss. As soon as
they got off the bus, the Field 1st Sergeant had everyone line up
and stand at attention. He said that he
needed four volunteers, three guys that knew how to drive a truck and one that
knew what a hammer and a saw was for. It
was an unwritten rule that no one volunteered for anything; so, when he asked
for volunteers, he got no response. He
told everyone that he had all day, and he would get volunteers. Finally three men volunteered to drive the
truck. Robert volunteered for the hammer
and saw duty. Then, the field sergeant
told everyone to go to their huts except the four volunteers. The sergeant told the three men that
volunteered to drive the truck to follow him, and he told Robert to wait. When Robert saw the three men coming back
with wheel barrows, he knew he had messed up by volunteering.
The sergeant told Robert to follow him to the supply hut. There, he gave Robert a tool box, showed him
where glass for window panes was kept, and told him to follow him to some empty
huts. It was Robert’s duty to repair the
huts. Most of the men of Company D were
trained to operate a very large gun, but Robert was only assigned to repair
huts. Robert's volunteer job turned out
to be a very good one. He lived off base much of the time, and when
he stayed on base, he slept in the repair huts, and never had to rise early
with the rest of the men of Company D nor had to make up a bed in the
barracks.
Robert Allemore
served with the following men. The names are in the same order as the pictures
above.
Page 1
2nd Lt. Frank J. Benesch,
Jr. Bat. Commander
2nd Lt. Frank S. Locke - Battery Officer
2nd Lt. George McGee, Jr. - Bat. Officer
Albert J. Adler, Jr., Robert D. Aldrich,
Robert F. Allemore, Paul Ammeny,
Jr., Jesus M. Almanza, John Anderson, James L. Ashabranner, Bobby A. Baldridge,
Donald L. Barbee, Louis E. Barber, Glennon W. Behrmann, Herbert A. Bergman, George J. Binder, Elmer L. Bjoram, John W. Blankenship, Richard J. Borczyk,
Richard J. Borucki, Ray M. Brendle,
Joseph T. Brezina, James J. Brown, Rod R.
Brown
Page 2
Maurice F. Bruegeman,
Marvin L. Bryant, James P. Bunting, Loy A. Bush, Albert R. Cartier, Raymond H. Claussen, Flloyd E. Cotner, Coy L. Cox, Lindell E.
Cox, Louis H. Denison, Jr., Donald D. Dickinson, John E. Douglas, Jesse P.
Dunn, Kenneth R. Edmondson, Owen C. Elstad, Donald E.
Ess, Cecil N. Evans, Harold P. Ewell,
Jr., Fredrick J. Ferguson, Harold B. Fisk, John N. Friedman, Clifford L. Garberson, Elmer E. Hegdal,
Robert L. Henderson, Edwin Hunziker, Donald A.
Johnson, Walter E. Johnson, David Jones, James Kennedy, Dale A. Lambrecht, Claire R. Lazette,
Earl A. LeGault, Thomas E. Luttrell Walter F. Mayn, Jr., Clarence V. McDaniel, Ralph C. Meadows, Douglas
S. Millard, Arthur E. Miller, William E. Miller, Gerold
D. Moody, Clifflord L. Mortenson,
Duane V. Onstad, John A. Papenfus,
Henry R. Pfaff, Ruben C. Rankin, Eliazer Reyes,
Richard L. Roberge, Manuel P. Rocha, Gerald W.
Ryan
Page 3
Joseph R. Ryan, Sylvester L. Schloesser, Ray E. Schoenrock,
Fred w. Schwesinger, James H. Scofield,
Jr., Zaven Seferian,
Bernard J. Simon, Jr., John T. Soderholm, Eugene F. Spatz, Richard A. Spencer, Theodore J. Taylor, Jr., Wilbur
A. Teahen, Robert H. Teegarden,
Ross G. Teets, Albert W. Thierwechter,
Phil F. Tobin, Thomas A. Tobin, Delbert J. Towersey,
Jerry R. Veeck, James F. Welch, Hubert R. Williams,
Duane w. Winters, Richard P. Willis, Ronald P. Wolf
Medical Detachment
Sfc. Oscar N. Jolson, Sgt.
Gene L. Kodle, Cpl. James D. Munrs,
Pfc. Arvin W. Pliss, Pfc. Richard Nielson, James C. Crangle, Roy S. Draper.
Robert Allemore and his wife Gee Gee.
Robert is the son of Herbert and Lillian Allemore, the grandson of Fred Allemore
and Anna Arabie, and the great-grandson of Joseph Allemore and Anita Rigguso. He
has a sister Darlene, and four brothers: Curtis, Floyd, Gayle and Lynnwood Allemore.
When Robert dug out his
old Army year book, he decided to try to find some of his friends who served in
the army with him during the Korean War. He had not heard from any of them in over
50 years. He sent the following letter to as many of the men from
Battery D that he could
find:
Dear _____:
Recently I found my old army yearbook from the Korean
War. I have some very good memories of
the men that I served with and decided to see if I can locate some of them.
I was in the United States Army during the Korean War. I was assigned to Battery D, 182nd Battalion. I trained at Ft. Bliss,
Texas in 1952, was then sent to
Indiantown
Gap, PA and later stationed in
the Pittsburg, PA
area where I was discharged in 1953.
If you served in the 182nd Battalion, Battery D during the
same time, I would love to hear from you.
You can reach me at the above address in Marrero,
Louisiana or phone me. If I have sent this to the wrong person, I am
sorry for the inconvenience.
Robert Allemore
In a matter of weeks, Robert
has already heard from 11 of them! Below are updates on the lives of some of
the men that Robert Allemore served with after they
came back home from the war:
Glenn Behrmann sent Robert a Christmas card, December, 2003.
Joseph Ted Brezina
is retired. He owns a small farm with a
few animals.
Raymond H. Claussen
is living in Oregon. He no longer has his Army yearbook. His ex-wife took it.
The following is a letter from Franke S. Locke:
October 27,
2003
Dear Mr. Allemore,
I was a member of Battery D. during the time you mentioned. I left
Pittsburg
in the early summer of 1952 for
Korea. I was a replacement officer in the 40th
Div. (California Nat’l Guard). Became
Co. Commander before finishing my tour in Aug. 1953. Served on MRL for the year with 8 half tracks
mounting 50 mm machine guns in close support of dug in infantry.
Unfortunately my memory is very dim of the men in Btry.
D. Quite candidly, I do not remember
you.
Good luck in your search,
Frank Locke
Elizer Reyes is
living in Missouri, summers in
Florida
and plays a lot of golf. The following
is an excerpt from a letter he sent:
Hi Folks,
Was glad to hear from you and we thank
you for the pictures. It sure brings
back a lot of memories of the time we spent in the army.
I remember all the names of the soldiers that you mentioned
mostly Fisk, Clausen, Adler, Bezina and Veeck the clown. Cox I remember because when he brought his
young wife to Bridgeville he weighed over 200 lb. In only a few months, he was down to 150. Ha Ha
Harold B. (Bud) Fisk
has Parkinson’s. He and his wife also
lived off post during the army. He has
never heard from any other men who served with him.
Robert received the following letter from Albert Adler:
Oct.
7, 2003
Mr. Robert Allemore,
I was surprised to hear from someone I
was in the army with so long ago. I remembered your name, but I had to look in
the army year book to remember what you look like. Your picture was one away
from mine.
It's amazing how you could even locate
me. I moved from St. Louis,
Mo. fifteen years ago to Illinois when I retired.
My wife, daughter and granddaughter were
in New
Orleans a few months ago and enjoyed it very much.
I hope your health is good and wish you
luck in locating other men of D-Battery.
Sincerely -
Albert Adler
James C. Crangle’s sister Jacqueline informed me that her brother died on October
26, 1985 at the age of 56. He had 7 children. His grand daughter graduated from the U.
S. Military Academy and is now serving with a Flight Readiness Squadron.
I remember the Towersey
twins, Darrel and Delbert. They were always together. They were very shy. When
one of the twins were separated for a short period of
time during the war, the one that was stationed with me got a terrible
toothache. When his brother returned, we found out that he also had a
toothache. Korean War memories by Robert Allemore
October 11, 2003
We both were greatly surprised to hear
from you a couple of weeks ago. My twin brother Delbert and I live just two
houses apart from each other.
When Delbert got married in 1960 he
built a new house on the corner, west of our house. When I got married in 1964
my wife and I bought my parent's house. Our parents built a new house between
Delbert and me.
In January 2001, just after our 70th
birthday, the local county newspaper interviewed us for an article in their
newspaper. I thought that you might enjoy reading it.
The article tells about us better than
what we could write. Delbert is still with the cable company, but I am now a
carry out at our local grocery store.
Write to us any time.
Darrell Towersey
70-year-old Towersey
twins still climbing to new heights
by Jenny Matteson
Herald Staff Writer
Even at age 70, nothing keeps the Towersey twins from doing what they love.
Many people across the county know
Darrell and Delbert Towersey as “the cable men.” The
two have been climbing poles and working hard for as long as anyone can
remember.
And even though they just celebrated
their 70th birthday, they don’t plan on slowing
down.
Darrell and Delbert were born to Fred
and Alice Towersey on Jan. 1, 1931. Darrel weighed in
at 6 pounds, ¾ ounce, and Delbert at 7 pounds, ¾ ounce.
Fred Towersey
was a longtime General Telephone Co. employee originally from
Illinois. Alice was a Gratiot County native.
“We were born in the house I still
live in,” said Darrell.
The twins also have two sisters, June
Schmelzer and Evelyn Alexander.
Today, Darrell and his wife Pat have
four children – Doug Strouse, Barbara Kaufman,
Christine Eaton, and Karen Whittaker – and seven grandchildren.
Delbert and his
wife Sandy have three kids – Charles, Margaret, and Fred Andrew – and three
grandchildren with one on the way.
The two brothers have done almost
everything together throughout their lives.
“We were together all the time,” said
Darrell.
“It was just like one person walking
down the street,” added Delbert. “You never saw one without the
other.”
After graduating from Alma High
School, the two worked as farm hands and at the Michigan Sugar
Co.
In 1951, they were drafted at the
same time into the army’s artillery unit.
“We were in the service during the
Korean War,” said Delbert.
After being laid-off because of
cutbacks, they decided to attend Ferris Institute, today known as
Ferris State University. The two graduated with electronic
certificates.
“We started our own T.V. shop – Towersey Bros. T.V. and Service in
Alma,” said Darrell.
In 1976, Delbert started working as a
contractor for Cable Vision. In 1984, the company hired him as a regular
employee.
Darrell ran the television shop until
1993 when he closed the store and also started working as a contractor for the
cable company.
“When I started working there, they
wouldn’t let relatives work in the same town,” Darrell said, “but they would
let me contract with them.”
The company is now known as Charter
Communications, and Darrel still works as a contracted installer while Delbert
works as an installation technician.
“We really like our jobs,” said
Delbert. “I just enjoy meeting new people.”
And sometimes
fooling them.
The brothers like to laugh about the
confusion people have after one has installed their cable and another comes to
repair it.
“I’ll come in and install the cable,
and sometimes a couple of weeks later they have a problem,” said
Darrell.
“So I’ll go in to repair the problem
and ask them where the T.V. is. They’ll tell me I should know because I
installed it,” laughed Delbert. “I always say “No I didn’t,”
and they’ll insist I did. Eventually they find out we’re
twins.”
The biggest changes the two have seen
throughout their careers have been in televisions themselves and the new
digital cable.
We have to be much more careful when
installing because of the digital and modems,” said Darrell. “You have to be
much more precise.”
He added that while owning the
television store, he felt like he was going to school again with every new T.V.
brought in for repair.
Aside from working, the twins have
several outside interests they enjoy.
For example, the two love to
dance.
“Our sisters signed us up at Arthur Murrey dance school and that changed everything,” claim
both brothers who were terribly shy and bashful until then.
They also enjoy twin conventions and
are members of the Michigan Twins Association.
Over the years, they have been
treasurers and presidents of the organization, even hosting the convention at
Alma College for two years.
Some of their other interests include
participating in the Odd Fellow service organization, attending the
Alma United Methodist Church, and playing cards. Delbert also enjoys helping
with Habitat for Humanity.
As if climbing utility poles at age
70 wasn’t enough, the brothers also carry on the family tradition of decorating
the large tree at the Lux-Moody-Wolfel Funeral
Home.
“Our dad started decorating that tree
in 1940,” said Darrell.
The family has taken care of the over
70-foot tall tree through three different funeral directors.
“We have to use a 14-foot ladder just
to reach the bottom branches,” said Darrell. “We climb it the rest of the way
then.”
With jobs they love, and plenty of
other activities to keep them busy, the twins aren’t looking to call anything
quits.
“We don’t have any plans to retire
anytime soon,” they agreed.
September 9, 2004 - Laura Ashabranner Holmburg, daughter of James L. Ashabranner,
found the website and a picture of her father through a search engine while doing family
research. She said that her father died in 1980. He is buried in Chaffee, Missouri.
October 12, 2004 - Geri Borczyk from Pittsburg, PA found the website and a picture of
Geri's father, Richard Borczyk through a search engine. Richard Borczyk died of lung
cancer when he was 38 years old.
Geri Borczyk told her sister Pamela Perkovic-Sciulli about the web site the next day,
October 13th, and Pamela wrote to say that their father died in 1967.
November 8, 2004 - Alyce Whelan, originally from Pittsburgh, PA and now residing in
Rancho Mirage, CA, was once married to Pfc Arvin W. Pliss of the Medical Attachment. She
said that Arvin passed on about 10 years or so from an on the job injury while working
for Boeing. He was living in the San Jose area. He left his widow Barbara and grown
children and several grandchildren.
January 29, 2005 - Frederick W.Schwesinger emailed to say that he got this website
address from his son who was looking up family origins. Frederick Schwesinger was one of
the original members of Battery "D", of the 182nd AA Gun Battalion, then located in
Toledo, Ohio when this National Guard Unit was called to active duty on 1 April 1951, for
the Korean conflict. He was a PFC at the time and was put in charge of the radar unit,
only because most of the older members of the unit where discharged for some reason or
another. All of their equipment was loaded on flat railroad cars and they left for Logan
Heights just outside of Fort Bliss, Texas. When the 182nd AAA Gun Bn was disolved or
deactivated, he ended up back in Toledo, Ohio around 1 January 1952, and ended up in an
Army Reserve Unit. He was elected to a position with a Fraternal Life Insurance Company
in 1974 and had to relocate to Pittsburgh, PA.
On Tuesday, March 15, 2011, Melissa Almanza emailed the following:
"I came across this website while looking up information on my father, Jesus M. Almanza.
Dad served in WWII, Korea and Vietnam. He was wounded in action in Korea. He received the Purple Heart. He eventually retired in El Paso as a SFC after 27 years.
He passed away in 1996 and is buried at Ft. Bliss, along with our mother, Sara, who passed in 2007. They had five children altogether; our sister passed away as well, two of my brothers still reside in Texas, and another brother and I now live in the Philadelphia, PA area.
I wanted to thank you for posting your story and these photos. We had no idea the yearbook existed. It was nice to see a picture of him from way back."
Melissa Almanza
UPDATE: Robert Allemore is doing well. He and his wife Gee Gee celebrated their 62nd Wedding Anniversary on September 9, 2012.
Robert would still love to hear from anyone he served with during the Korean War or their families. Please leave him a message. Thanks.
FINAL UPDATE: Robert F. Allemore Sr. passed away on Monday, October 26, 2015 at the age of 85 years. Beloved husband of his precious baby, Virgin Gros Allemore for 65 years. Father of Robert F. Allemore Jr (Kye), Steven Allemore (Janice) and David Allemore. Son of the late Lillian and Herbert Allemore. Brother of Floyd, Lynwood, and Curtis Allemore, Darlene Hartman and the late Gayle Allemore. Grandfather of Nicole, Shane, and Josh Allemore, Angela Gambino and Alisa Pennino. Also survived by 10 great grandchildren. He was a native of Houma, LA and a resident of Marrero, LA for the past 65 years. Relatives and friends of the family, also parishioners of St. Joachim Catholic Church, are invite to attend the Funeral Mass in the chapel of Mothe Funeral Home, 2100 Westbank Expwy., Harvey, LA on Thursday, October 29, 2015 at 1pm. Visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10am until 1pm. Interment, Westlawn Memorial Park Cemetery. Special thanks to Heart of Hospice for their loving care. Family and friends may view and sign the online guest book at www.mothefunerals.com.
For some of Robert's special memories in pictures: View his Photo Album
Thanks for stopping by. Before you leave, please sign my guestbook so that I will know
that you were here. Thanks.
If you, or anyone that you know, served in the United States Army during the Korean War
in Battery D, 182nd Battalion, please leave me a message. I would love to hear from
You.
Questions or Comments?
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