Franklin F. Fortiner

Rank: Private, U.S. Army

Unit: 153rd Depot Brigade

Entered service from: New Jersey

Died: June 30, 1918

Private Franklin F. Fortiner was born in Camden, New Jersey on April 7, 1896 to Edward and his wife, the former Mary B. Stange. The family appears in City Directories from 1897 through 1899 at 734 Spruce Street. They were at 816 South 8th Street when the 1900 Census was taken. The 1906 City Directory has them at 755 Bella Place. The 1910 Census shows the Fortiner family at 615 Mount Vernon Street. Edward Fortiner was working as a boilermaker. Soon afterward, the family moved to Moorestown, New Jersey.

When he registered for the draft in June of 1917, Franklin F. Fortiner was living with his parents at 303 Linden Street in Moorestown. He was working at the Keystone Leather Company factory in Camden.

Franklin F. Fortiner was inducted into the United States Army at Beverly, New Jersey on June 27, 1918. He was sent to Camp Dix and assigned to the 153rd Depot Brigade. Private Fortiner contracted spinal meningitis upon arrival at Camp Dix. He died from the disease on June 30, 1918.

Franklin F. Fortiner was an active member of Black Hawk Tribe No. 78 of the Improved Order of Red Men. He was memorialized on the Red Men War Memorial monument that stood at what was Pulaski Park, Benson Street and Haddon Avenue, from the 1920s into the early 1980s. The monument, a bronze statue of an Indian chief by Camden sculptor Nicola Berardo, was moved to Tuckerton, New Jersey where it stands today.