By Cheryl Splain, KnoxPages.com Reporter
MOUNT VERNON — The desire of a Belgian citizen to connect with family members of a Knox County soldier killed in World War II and buried in Belgium has been fulfilled, thanks to Fredericktown resident Zane Neil Snyder.
Earlier this month, Mayor Richard Mavis received a letter from Nathalie Tuncky, a member of a World War II historical association in Belgium. Her club cares for the grave of Pvt. Joseph Arthur Morton Jr. and honors it with flowers on Memorial Day. She wanted to contact Morton’s family members and let them know that his grave is being cared for and to also learn more about his life and why he would give his life for the freedom of Belgium.
Mavis told KnoxPages.com that on Monday morning Morton’s second cousin, Amanda Harter Stone, called his office after Snyder contacted Stone through Ancestry.com. Stone followed up her call with a letter and additional information about Morton and also plans to write Tuncky.
Morton and Stone’s father, Walter G. Harter, were cousins, little boys, best friends and brothers-in-arms in World War II. Harter came home after his service, married, graduated from The Ohio State University and had two daughters and grandchildren. Morton was killed in action on Sept. 18, 1944, at the age of 23, awarded the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster, was buried in Henri-Chapelle American Cemetery in Henri-Chappelle, Belgium and never got to live his dreams.
Photo of Joseph A. Morton and Walter George Harter, 5 and 7 years old. Photo courtesy of Amanda Harter Stone.
“Although I do not know what his dreams were, I feel that he had them,” Stone writes. “His ultimate sacrifice was his but at great cost to those he left behind. His mother and father never had the opportunity to see their son or sons…become the men that they could have been. These young men never married and never had children. When a soldier makes the ultimate sacrifice, it is not just the ultimate sacrifice for them; it is a great sacrifice for all who loved them.”
Morton’s only sibling, Roger, was killed in a car accident in 1941. Stone spent a lot of time with Morton’s parents, her Great Aunt Beulah and Great Uncle Arthur, while growing up.
“One thing that I feel is important to know about Joe was that he had a lifelong fear of fireworks. Evidently it was a severe lifelong fear; the Fourth of July was a nightmare for him,” writes Stone. “My father told me this when I was a small child, and I always remember Joe on the 4th and ponder what World War II in the European Theatre must have been like for him with such a fear.”
Morton grew up at 102 E. Lamartine St. His grandparents, Rachel and Joseph Morton, lived at 302 E. High St. His father, Arthur, owned a car dealership in Mount Vernon; his grandparents had a large farm in or near Clinton Township. At some point, his parents moved to Columbus, and Morton graduated from North High School in Columbus in 1940. He was in the 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Battalion, 1st Infantry Division.
“I have considered it a privilege, an honor and a duty to remember him. My father spoke of Joe very often and missed him for the rest of his life,” Stone wrote in her letter. “I am beyond thrilled to know that a group is caring for Joe’s grave. His parents visited his grave once with full intention of bringing him home, but when they got there, they decided that Joe could not be in a better place among his brothers-in-arms. They said that they felt very good about leaving him there in Belgium.”
