|
PRIVATE FIRST
CLASS JOHN HARKINS was born in County Donegal, Ireland on February 24,
1887. He does not appear in the 1914 Camden City Directory, but was
living at 1102 South
4th Street and working at the Castle Kid Company leather works. He
had declared his intention to become an American citizen when he
registered for the draft in June of 1917. John
Harkins was inducted into the United States Army on February 25, 1918 at
Camden, New Jersey. Assigned to Company D. 209th Infantry Regiment, 78th
Infantry Division, he went overseas in April of 1918. John Harkins was
promoted to Private First Class on July 7, 1918. Private
First Class Harkins survived the fighting, only to fall victim to the Spanish
flu pandemic that took he lives of millions during the fall of 1918. He
died in France of bronchial pneumonia on November 17, 1918. John Harkins
was brought back to America after the war and was buried at Arlington
National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.
John Harkins was a member of the patriotic fraternal organization,
the Improved
Order of Red Men, belonging to Ottawa Tribe No. 15, which met in Morgan's
Hall on Market
Street in the years leading up to America's entry into World War I.
Ottawa Tribe No. 15 members included J.
Richard Geist, Ralph Benner, Burton
Bagg, Fillmore Haines, Joseph
Covert, and William Schucker. 1102
South 4th Street, where John Harkins had made his home prior to going
off to war, was the home of the Luigi Cinaglia family from the 1930s
into the 1960s. Luigi Cinaglia's son, Private Anthony
Cinaglia, was killed in action while serving with the United States
Army during World War II. |
