PVT Abram Gregory Swanton

PVT Abram Gregory Swanton was born 12 Mar 1911 in Boonton, New Jersey. He was the 3rd of the 9 children born to Abraham Hutchinson and Rose (Cowan) Swanton. His mother was a native of Ballinagh, Ireland and had immigrated in 1904. His father was a truck driver and owned a home valued at $1500 in 1930. The family lived at the home at 292 Springdale Avenue in East Orange, New Jersey. His father would later manage and own a trucking company and move to another home valued at $9500 by 1940. Abram did not pursue his education past the 8th grade but also went to work in the trucking business and married, probably in 1934. He and his wife, Regina, were renting a home at 530 Central Avenue in Newark, New Jersey in 1940. Abram was driving a truck for a local brewery, Peter Ballantine & Sons, and reported a 1939 income of $2184. 

Abram was drafted in Jun 1943. With his income cut to just $600 a year, less than 1/3rd of what he had been making, Regina was forced to move to a flat in East Orange. After completing his military training, PVT Swanton was sent to England in August 1944 and transferred from the replacement depot to L Company 116th Infantry on 3 Sep 1944. This was in the midst of fighting in Brest, France and he was wounded by artillery or mortar fire just 3 days later. Despite being rapidly evacuated and undergoing surgery to repair his abdominal wounds, PVT Swanton died of those wounds on 8 Sep 1944. 

PVT Swanton was repatriated in 1947 and re-interred in Gate of Heaven Cemetery in East Hanover, New Jersey where he rests forever with his wife and near his parents.  

Regina never re-married. Older brother, Robert James Swanton, and younger brother, Philip John Swanton, also served in the U.S. Army during WW2.