Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 5, Number 3, September 1995 Page: 131
[64] p. : ill., ports. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Supreme Sacrifice: Colorado County's World War II Dead
Pvt. Felton Forrest Alley
March 7, 1924 - February 5, 1944
By the beginning of 1944, the fighting in Italy already had claimed the lives
of Israel Selph, William Grogan and Arthur Weiss. The new year found the Allied advance
up the peninsula blocked by the German-Italian resistance along the Gustav-Cassino line.
The Allied solution to this problem was an amphibious "end run." They landed two
divisions of British and American troops 70 miles behind German lines on the beaches
on Anzio on January 22, 1944 in an effort to cut off German supplies to the front. The
Axis troops reacted quickly and sealed off the Allied troops in a pocket on the beachhead.
The Americans rushed in reinforcements in the form of four more divisions, including the
45th Infantry, on February 3.
Felton Forrest Alley was born March 7, 1924 in Ramsey, the son of Joe Dan
and Della Parker Alley, and attended school in Columbus. He enlisted in the army on June
4, 1943. Like so many other young men, he was trained and shipped overseas in a
remarkably short period of time. In fact, he would be killed within eight months of his
enlistment. Alley, serving with the 45th Infantry Division, participated in the invasions
of North Africa and Italy. On February 5, 1944, shortly after being deployed on Anzio
beach to reinforce the troops that had established the beachhead, he was killed.
Newspaper accounts relate only that he was in the battle for Rome when he was killed.
Alley's mother received his Purple Heart citation in March 1944. He was one of the
youngest men from Colorado County to be killed in World War II, dying a month short
of his 20th birthday. He was survived by three sisters, Mrs. Eddie Nohavitz, Mrs. Nick
Marsalia, and Mrs. H. E. Glueck, and five brothers, Earl, John, Ross, Willie and Joe Dan
Alley, Jr. In 1948, four years after his death, Alley's body was returned to Colorado
County and buried in the Alley Family Cemetery in Ramsey.50
S/Sgt. Almous C. New
June 29, 1922 - March 11, 1944
Almous New was born in lago, Wharton County, on June 29, 1922, the son
of Johnnie Joshua and Lalla Beatrice New. New graduated from Crescent High School
in 1939, having lived in Bonus for twelve years. Despite such strong ties to Wharton
County, he was listed by the War Department in 1946 with the other casualties from
Colorado County. After receiving his wings in training at Harlingen, New went overseas
at Thanksgiving 1943. He went to Italy with the 15th Air Force, serving there as a gunner
aboard a ten-man B-24 Liberator bomber. Reportedly, he was killed in action when his
B-24 was shot down in a raid on Toulon Harbor on March 11, 1944. Toulon was the
primary French port on the Mediterranean, and was essential to the Germans, both to
supply Italian troops and for the defense of southern France. New's body, accompanied
by S/Sgt. Kent D. Wisdom, was returned to the United States for burial in 1948. After
50 Colorado County Birth Records, Vol. 8, p. 209; Colorado County Citizen, March 2, 1944, July
27, 1948; Eagle Lake Headlight, March 31, 1944, July 23, 1948.
131
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Nesbitt Memorial Library. Nesbitt Memorial Library Journal, Volume 5, Number 3, September 1995, periodical, September 1995; Columbus, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth151395/m1/23/?q=nesbitt%20memorial%20library%20journal: accessed April 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Nesbitt Memorial Library.