Gorham, Arthur Fulbrook, born 11-01-1915 in Brooklyn, New York, 
to James Allison Gorham, Sr. born 13-09-1890 and his wife Louise Fox Gorham (April 1885 – July 4, 1966). His older brother was James Allison Gorham, Jr. ( 26-11-1911 – May 15-05-2005). James, Sr. owned a successful dry goods business. Gorham’s parents were second generation Americans and were both of Scottish descent. The Gorhams moved from Brooklyn to Bellevue, Ohio, in July 1917. James, Sr. owned a successful dry goods business.
Gorham was educated in Bellevue, Ohio, first at the Ellis School and he later graduated from Bellevue High School 
in 1932. During high school, he played in the band for four years, was secretary of the junior and senior classes, earned two varsity letters in football and two more in track and served on the high school newspaper, the Blazer, for four years. He was also a member of the National Honor Society. 
After his high school graduation, having not secured a sought-after appointment to West Point,
he attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, 
for a year where he played football winning his “numeral.” During this time he pledged the Ohio Alpha chapter of Phi Delta Theta fraternity. Gorham left Miami when he received the principal Congressional appointment to West Point from Rep. William Louis Fiesinger. 
After taking the West Point substantiating examination in February 1934 he spent time at Stanton Preparatory Academy in Cornwall, New York. 
On 02-07-1934, Gorham joined the Class of 1938 at West Point. Famous class mates Four Stars General Ferdinand Joseph Chesarek 
, Lieutenant General George Gray O’Connor 
majoor with the 506 Airborne Divivison
on D-Day, Robert Lee “Bull” Wolverton. 
While at West Point, Gorham was known for pipe smoking, surviving academics and maintaining a famously clean M1 rifle. To his classmates, he was known for his easy-going way and love of jazz. He played football for two years winning two monograms as an end on the Army “B” team and earned a marksmanship medal—one shot short of winning an “expert” badge he refused to wear the award mailing it home to his parents instead. During his four years he was an acting corporal, acting sergeant, sergeant, acting company supply officer, and, in his fourth year, wore three chevrons as the lieutenant for Company B. Gorham graduated in the middle of his class and received a commission as an Infantry officer. Gorham’s graduation was front page news in his native Bellevue. At the time, he was just the second graduate of Central High School to graduate from a service academy. Admiral John Wils Greenslade 
was previously the school’s sole graduate.
In 1941 he volunteered to organize the first group of paratroopers on skis. So in February 1942 then-Captain Gorham took his B Company, 503rd Parachute Infantry Regiment 
under command of Lieutenant General William Maynadier “Bud” Miley, 
to Alta, Utah, where the United States was testing the concept of dropping paratroopers into the Alps behind the Germans and having them ski down to attack and harass their lines of communication. During this period Gorham is credited with having made the first parachute jump from over 10,000 feet. As was his leadership style, before Gorham would let anyone else jump he first made a solo jump to test whether it was safe. On that first jump, he was soon followed by Lieutenant Robert Ellis, 
Sergeant Roy Taylor and Sergeant William P. “Knobby” Walsh. 
The troopers trained hard, but falling on skis was different than falling when landing in a parachute jump. There were many legs and ankles injured. Despite much favorable press, the project was eventually abandoned and the troopers were spread out to the newly forming parachute units.
In the summer of 1942 the 505th 
Parachute Infantry Regiment under command of then Colonel James M. “Jumpin’ Jim” Gavin 
was activated in the tarpaper shack Frying Pan area of Fort Benning, overlooking Lawson Army Airfield. Gorham, then a major, was assigned as commander of the 1st Battalion. There was no time lost in getting a hard training schedule started.
On the night of 09-07-1943, the paratroopers of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment loaded aircraft and departed the coast of North Africa for the island of Sicily. The 1st Battalion, under the command of the 28-year-old Gorham spearheaded the first regimental-sized airborne assault. Winds were high as they jumped in the early morning hours of July 10 and the paratroopers were scattered across and well beyond their drop zones. Assembling into small groups, the men began to wreak havoc among the German and Italian defenders of Sicily.
Death and burial ground of Gorham, Arthur Fulbrook.
On 12-07-1943, Gorham and his unit came face to face with another German tank near Niscemi, Sicily. William B. Breuer in Drop Zone Sicily describes the action: Gorham “grabbed a rocket launcher and edged his way within range of a menacing Tiger Tank 
which had continued to roll forward. Gorham, out in the open and in full view of enemy tankers, kneeled to take aim at the tank. Gunners in the Tiger spotted the parachute leader and fired an 88mm shell at Gorham at point blank range. Gorham, hardnosed to the end, fell over dead.” The citation for the Distinguished Service Cross 
he was awarded for his actions reports: “Lieutenant Colonel Gorham personally manned a rocket launcher and destroyed one tank. While attempting to destroy another with hand grenades and a rifle, Lieutenant Colonel Gorham, age 28, was killed.” This second description is consistent with the reports relayed to Gorham’s family by Chicago Tribune reporter John Hall Thompson in December 1943.
For his actions on Sicily, Gorham was awarded two Distinguished Service Crosses. Gorham was also posthumously awarded the Purple Heart, 
the Combat Infantryman Badge 
and a combat star to his jump wings. 
In August 1948, Gorham’s remains were returned to the United States. He was interred in Bellevue, Ohio, in a family plot. Bellevue Veterans Memorial / Central Park: Located near North Street and Memorial Way.
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