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PRIVATE FIRST CLASS
BEAUMONT R. HUNTER was born in New Jersey to Herbert L. and Anna Hunter
around 1923. Herbert Hunter's father Robert was a sawyer by trade, and
came with wife Elsie to Camden in the 1880s. By 1920 the Hunter family
owned a home at 207 East Madison Avenue in Collingswood NJ. Herbert
Hunter was born around 1891 and was a veteran of World War I. Robert
Hunter passed in the 1920s. At the time of the 1930 Census Herbert and
Anna Hunter, son Beaumont, and mother Elsie were living at the Madison
Avenue address. Herbert Hunter was then working as an inspector at an
iron foundry, very possibly the Camden Forge, a short drive from the
Hunter family home.
Beaumont R. Hunter was a 1941 graduate of Collingswood
High School.
Drafted into the service, he entered the Army on March 1, 1943 at Fort
Dix NJ. He underwent his basic training at Fort Jackson SC, where the
photos above were taken. He qualified as an aviation cadet, and was sent
to Miami FL on January 1, 1944. He was then sent to Smyrna Air Base at
Smyrna TN, where he received orders transferring him to the infantry, as
there was an increased need for infantry replacements after D-Day. He
was reassigned to Camp Campbell KY. and served as a mortician, while
awaiting a transfer to armorer's school at Fort Knox KY.
PFC Hunter was transferred to the
paratroops, and trained again at Fort Jackson. He served in England and
France, and was killed in action while serving with the 513th
Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th Airborne Division on April 3, 1945.
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