Raymond J Fortin
CPL in Signal Co, Special : Inst & Maint; Telephone & Wire
Military occupational specialty: 641 (field lineman)
ASN#31219292
Born 1923 in ME, Died 1994
County of residence at enlistment: Androscoggin County, ME
Other residence(s): Lewiston, ME (1950s, Martin spreadsheet); Sabbatus, ME
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: skilled pattern and model makers, except paper
Raymond Fortin was born on July 1, 1923 in Maine (probably in Lewiston, since that's where his family was living in 1930). He was the fifth of six children. Both of his parents were French-speaking immigrants from Canada; his father worked as a shoemaker (and later as a butcher) and his mother in a cotton mill. They were part of a large migration of French Canadians who had come to work in the shoe factories and textile mills of Lewiston. In 1930 the family shared a house with a Fortin relative (likely Raymond's uncle) and his wife and five children; Raymond's uncle was also a shoemaker—it’s probable that the two brothers worked in a shop together. They lived only a few blocks from the Androscoggin River and the mill-lined canal.
Raymond received a grammar school education and then went to work. In 1940, he was working as a wood-heel sprayer in a shoe factory. When he enlisted, on January 11, 1943, he was working as a "skilled pattern and model maker," possibly in the same factory.
In the Army he was assigned to the Signal Company Special, and saw service with the Ghost Army in Europe.
He was discharged from the Army on October 26, 1945 with the rank of CPL. He returned to Lewiston and married Cecile Couture on June 15, 1946. Sadly, she died in 1980; she was only in her 50s. It's unknown whether or not they had any children.
Raymond worked in Lewiston as a mechanic, and also at Commercial Rubber, Inc. At some point (possibly in retirement) he moved to Sabattus, ME, a few miles northeast of Lewiston. He died there on January 6, 1994, and is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in Lewiston.
Sources:
1930 census
1943 enlistment record
1946 marriage record
1951 US city directory for Lewiston ME
1966 US city directory for Lewiston ME
1987 US Public Records Index
1994 Find a Grave record
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/128470567/raymond-j.-fortin
1994 Social Security applications and claims index
1994 VA death record