Ohio Hero: LTC Arthur F. Gorham
Ohio Hero: LTC Arthur F. Gorham
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Biography

Arthur. F. Gorham January 11, 1915 – July 12, 1943

A True Ohio Hero from Bellevue

Arthur was born in Brooklyn, NY to James Allison Gorham, Sr. (September 13, 1890 – February 9, 1972) and Louise Fox Gorham (April 1885 – July 4, 1966). The Gorhams moved their young family, including older son James Allison Gorham, Jr. (November 26, 1911 – May 15, 2005), to Bellevue in 1917 when Arthur was two years old.


Arthur attended the Ellis School and he later graduated from Bellevue High School in 1932. Arthur was a distinguished student athlete and leader in high school. He played in the band for four years, was secretary of the junior and senior classes, earned two varsity letters in football and two more in track and served on the high school newspaper, the Blazer, for four years. He was also a member of the National Honor Society.

After high school graduation, having not secured a sought-after appointment to West Point, he attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, for a year where he played football winning his "numeral."


Arthur's goal of attending West Point never faded and after one year at Miami, he received received the principal Congressional appointment to West Point from Rep. William L. Fiesinger and on July 2, 1934 joined the Class of 1938.


While at West Point, Arthur was known for pipe smoking, surviving academics and maintaining a famously clean M1 rifle. To his classmates, he was known for his easy-going way and love of jazz. He played football for two years winning two monograms as an end on the Army "B" team and earned a marksmanship medal—one shot short of winning an "expert" badge.  


Arthur's graduation was front page news in his hometown of Bellevue. At the time, he was just the second graduate of Central High School to graduate from a service academy. 

Family

Early Career: 1938-42

Early Career: 1938-42

While awaiting transportation from Governors Island in New York to his first assignment after graduating from West Point, Gorham renewed a previous acquaintance with Corrine Bennett (October 21, 1917 – October 20, 2001). They had met for the first time a few years earlier at an Army football game. Bennett was then a senior at the University of Wichita (KS). 


Corrine was a mighty match for Gorham. From a young age, a family friend nicknamed her "Colonel" after observing her superior organizing skills over the other young girls in the neighborhood.  Corrine and Art were married on June 21, 1939, in Wichita, Kansas. The wedding was hailed as the event of the year. 


The couple had one child, Bruce Bennett Gorham Clarke, who was born January 26, 1943, in Ft. Benning, GA. Clarke followed in his father's footsteps graduating from West Point, serving in an airborne unit, fighting in Vietnam at Khe Sanh and commanding at every level from a platoon to a brigade.

Early Career: 1938-42

Early Career: 1938-42

Early Career: 1938-42

Early in Gorham's short career he began to stand out. As one of the early airborne qualified officers, he gained more rank and responsibility as the United States began to form parachute regiments and later airborne divisions.


In 1941 he volunteered to organize the first group of paratroopers on skis. During this period Gorham is credited with having made the first parachute jump from over 10,000 feet. As was his leadership style, before Gorham would let anyone else jump he first made a solo jump to test whether it was safe.  The troopers trained hard, but falling on skis was different than falling when landing in a parachute jump. There were many legs and ankles injured. Despite much favorable press, the project was eventually abandoned and the troopers were spread out to the newly forming parachute units.


Gorham was promoted to lieutenant colonel on December 26, 1942, just shy of his 28th birthday, and only four years after graduating West Point. At the time of his promotion, he was one of the youngest lieutenant colonels in the U.S. Army.

Operation Husky: The Invasion of Sicily 1943

July 9-10: The Landing and Beginning of the Liberation of Gela

On the night of July 9, 1943, the paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment loaded aircraft and departed the coast of North Africa for the island of Sicily. The 1st Battalion, under the command of the 28-year-old Gorham spearheaded the first regimental-sized airborne assault. Winds were high as they jumped in the early morning hours of July 10 and the paratroopers were scattered across and well beyond their drop zones. Assembling into small groups, the men began to wreak havoc among the German and Italian defenders of Sicily.


On July 10, at about 6 a.m., Gorham with 30 men from his headquarters company joined up with CPT Ed Sayre who had gathered up about 50 troopers from A Company. LTC Gorham congratulated Sayre for capturing an Italian fortified farmhouse and over 20 machine guns and then they began organizing a defense, anticipating an enemy attack from the north on the road from Niscemi. Bolstering the lightly armed paratroopers’ firepower were the 20 captured machine guns with 500,000 rounds of ammunition. The troopers, now about 90 strong, did not have long to wait.  


At 7 a.m., a German armored column approached from the north, Preceded by an advanced guard of two Motorcycles and a Volkswagen. The paratroopers, following Gorham’s command, allowed the advance guard to close to within point blank range, then opened fire killing or capturing them. The tanks deployed and stopped. The Germans then sent in two companies of about 200 men, of a Panzer Grenadier unit. The German infantry advanced on foot across open ground. The troopers, again following Gorham’s command, allowed them to close within about 100 yards, then opened fire. Throughout the engagements, Gorham exposed himself at personal risk to encourage his troops and direct their fire.


The Germans were decimated. Only a handful escaped. The German tanks did not advance. The reasons for the tanks not doing so are not clear, but it is not hard to imagine that the crews were stunned by the volume of fire the troopers put out with their 20 machine guns.


Later that day, the paratroopers married up with 2-16 Infantry of the First Infantry Division. LTC Gorham attached his band of troopers, as required in the Regimental plan, to the 2-16 IN commanded by LTC Joseph Crawford. Anti-tank firepower was only slightly improved, however, as 2-16 IN had only a single 57 mm anti-tank gun. Using a 2-16 IN radio, a report was sent to the 1st ID command post, where MG Matthew Ridgway, the 82d Airborne Division Commander was located, that Gorham’s intrepid band of troopers had seized Objective Y, meant to be taken by the entire 505th PIR. 


Writing after the war, then-Colonel James M. Gavin, Commander of the 505th PIR, who was fighting with another band of his paratroopers to well to the east of Objective Y, said “Colonel Gorham and his small group of troopers...Accomplished all the missions assigned to the entire regimental combat team. It was a remarkable performance, and I know nothing like it that occurred at any time later in the war”. 

July 12: Gorham's Unit Faces Second Challenge

 The next day, July 12, Gorham and his unit came face to face with another German tank near Niscemi, Sicily. William B. Breuer in Drop Zone Sicily describes the action: Gorham “grabbed a rocket launcher and edged his way within range of a menacing Tiger Tank which had continued to roll forward. Gorham, out in the open and in full view of enemy tankers, kneeled to take aim at the tank. Gunners in the Tiger spotted the parachute leader and fired an 88mm shell at Gorham at point blank range. Gorham, hardnosed to the end, fell over dead." 


 Gorham's death was first reported by Bill Ryder in a March of Time radio broadcast on August 19, 1943. "One of the outstanding examples of heroism was Lt. Col. Arthur Gorham whose unit was attacked by tanks. When one of his bazooka teams was wiped out by an approaching tank, he manned the weapon himself and got the tank single-handed before being killed himself by another tank on their flank."  

Distinguished Service Cross

For his actions on Sicily, Gorham was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses. Gorham was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat Infantryman Badge and a combat star to his jump wings.


The citation for the Distinguished Service Cross he was awarded for his actions reports: “Lieutenant Colonel Gorham personally manned a rocket launcher and destroyed one tank. While attempting to destroy another with hand grenades and a rifle, Lieutenant Colonel Gorham was killed.”  This second description is consistent with the reports relayed to Gorham's family by Chicago Tribune reporter John Hall Thompson in December 1943.

Gorham Buried in Bellevue, Ohio

In August 1948, Gorham's remains were returned to the United States. He was interred in Bellevue, Ohio, in a family plot.   

Tributes and Memorials

  •  In the Museo Archeologico Regionale di Gela (Regional Archaeological Museum of Gela) a poster exhibit will be unveiled in July 2013 commemorating the 70th anniversary of Operation Husky. Gorham is prominently featured in the exhibit.
  • On May 18, 2013, Gorham was inducted into the Bellevue High School "Halls of Excellence."
  • On May 21, 2008, the new headquarters of the 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment was named in Gorham's honor. During this ceremony a memorial was also dedicated to the members of the Battalion killed in the Global War on Terrorism.
  • In May 1998, a room in the Battalion’s former dining facility was named in Gorham’s honor.
  • A street at Ft. Bragg is named for Gorham.
  • Gorham's name is included among all those killed in action on a tablet erected at Bellevue's Fallen Heroes Memorial Plaza.
  • There is a memorial marker which bears his name near the 82nd Airborne Museum. The marker was laid in 1948 to commemorate the naming of a street for Gorham.
  • Gorham's name is included among the 39 killed near Ponte Dirillo near Gela in Sicily. The memorial was erected by the citizens of Sicily and is maintained by Senor Ventura. Each year, the local residents in conjunction with Naval personnel from the nearby Naval Computer and Telecommunication Station, Naval Air Station Sigonella hold a ceremony to remember the paratroopers.
  • Memorial to Lt. Col Gorham and the 82nd Airborne at Ponte Dirillo.
  • The DeMolay chapter, a Masonic youth leadership organization, in his hometown of Bellevue, Ohio, was previously named in Gorham's honor but it is no longer active.
  • The Masonic Lodge in Bellevue was also for a time named in Gorham's honor.
  • Gorham's name is included among all those killed in action on a memorial plaque inside the American Legion Post No. 44 in Bellevue, Ohio.
  • Gorham's name is included in a plaque overlooking Trophy Point at West Point honoring the members of the Class of 1938 who gave their lives for their country. In total, 16 members of the Class of '38 died during World War II (9 KIA, 15 died or executed as POWs).
  • Gorham's name is included on a plaque in Cullum Memorial Hall at West Point. His name was added in a ceremony on October 6, 1949, presided over by West Point Superintendent Major General Bryant Moore and Air Force Chief of Staff General Hoyt Vandenberg.
  • Tim Dyas' book of war poetry, Barbed Words of War, was donated by the poet to the USMA library with the following inscription: "23 Oct 2000 To: Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, LtGen James M. Gavin, LTC Arthur Gorham (KIA). My leaders from USMA who knew only one way to lead – up front. Tim Dyas"
  • For a time, Gorham's family sponsored a scholarship at Bellevue High School in his name. The first scholarship of $500 was awarded in 1954.
  • Gorham's youngest grandson, James, has Gorham as his middle name. Two of his three great grandsons, Philip and Matthew, are also, in part, named for their great grandfather. 

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