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Tillman Ellis Downing

T/4 in Signal Co, Special : Radio HQ

Military occupational specialty: 766 (radio operator, high speed, manual)

ASN#36537450

Born 1921 in KY, Died 2000

Other residence(s): Germantown, KY; Newport, KY; Hamilton, OH
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Source: Unit Shipment 10143-D, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945;  militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...

Tillman Downing was born on December 13, 1921 in Lewisburg, Kentucky. In the 1940 census, he was living with his parents in Germantown, Kentucky, a tiny town in Bracken County, with his mother, stepfather, and sister. He was still in high school. His stepfather worked in sales at the general store in town.

At the time he filled out his draft card, in February 1942, he was working at Briggs Manufacturing Co. in Detroit, a company which built auto bodies for Ford, Chrysler, et al. He was a big guy, 6'1" and 200 pounds.

By 1954, he was living in Newport, Kentucky and working as a temp at a Coca-Cola plant. (Newport is across the river from Cincinnati, so it's likely he was working at the Cincinnati plant.) In 1958, he was working as a helper at the Coca-Cola plant in Cincinnati. He remained in the Cincinnati area for the rest of his life; he was living in Hamilton, Ohio at the time of his death.

He married Rita V. DeAngelis; they did not have any children.

He died on February 19, 2000, and is buried at St. Joseph New Cemetery in Cincinnati.

Sources:

1940 census

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2442&h=50390452&tid=&pid=&queryId=cf5746384fde457711859f797f169d9e&usePUB=true&_phsrc=aLI49&_phstart=successSource

1942 draft card

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2238&h=267707334&tid=&pid=&queryId=0134de78aeccd14cf9d1b0edcb8bbff3&usePUB=true&_phsrc=aLI42&_phstart=successSource

2000 VA death record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2441&h=1411603&tid=&pid=&queryId=0134de78aeccd14cf9d1b0edcb8bbff3&usePUB=true&_phsrc=aLI43&_phstart=successSource

2000 US Veterans' Gravesites

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8750&h=4122630&tid=&pid=&queryId=cf5746384fde457711859f797f169d9e&usePUB=true&_phsrc=aLI45&_phstart=successSource

2000 Ohio Death Records

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=5763&h=23569&tid=&pid=&queryId=cf5746384fde457711859f797f169d9e&usePUB=true&_phsrc=aLI50&_phstart=successSource

2000 Find a Grave Record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/103770342/tillman-ellis-downing

2000 Obituary, The Cincinnati Enquirer

https://www.newspapers.com/image/102495748/?terms=downing&match=1

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