From Montana--Around the World and Back

By TIMOTHY SEAMAN (U.S.Navy Veteran) and Donald Seaman (U.S. Army World War Veteran)

From Montana--Around the World and Back

These are the memoirs and true-life story of a young man from Montana who joined the Army, trained as a tank operator, traveled around the world during World War II, worked on the Minuteman missile program, blew up chickens on his South Dakota farm, and raised his family during hard times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: May 20, 2024
• ISBN: 9798889827665

Book preview

Table of Contents

Title

Copyright

Book Review

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Chapter 1: Ancestry and a Ponca Indian Chief

Chapter 2: Love and Disaster in Montana

Chapter 3: Military Induction and Armored Tank Training

Chapter 4: Overseas Deployment (Halfway around the World by Troopship)

Chapter 5: World War II—China/Burma/India (CBI) Campaign

Chapter 6: End of World War II

Chapter 7: New Delhi and Calcutta, India

Chapter 8: Homeward Bound (Rest of the Way around the World)

Chapter 9: Military Discharge and a Broken Heart

Chapter 10: Return to Montana

Chapter 11: South Dakota (and Another World War Looms)

Chapter 12: Family Abundance and Family Tragedy

Chapter 13: Epilogue

Final Notes from the Author

About the Author

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From Montana--Around the World and Back

TIMOTHY SEAMAN (U.S.Navy Veteran) As Told by Donald Seaman (U.S. Army World War II Veteran)

Copyright © 2024 Timothy Seaman (U.S. Navy Veteran)

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2024

ISBN 979-8-88982-764-1 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88982-766-5 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Book Review

This is a great family story going back over five hundred years. The history and story of an individual from the greatest generation—his life and times before, during, and after World War II—is a page-turner that brings you the true meaning of Veterans Day.

Larry Harding—US Air Force, Helicopters Air Rescue, 1973–1977

I am not an avid reader, but after I started reading this book, I couldn't put it down. Not only is it an inspirational story of one man's World War II experiences but also an intriguing story of his life, loves, and sorrows. I found the China-Burma-India and the Minuteman missile program background information of particular interest. I would highly recommend this book.

Bo Lemons—Roanoke, Virginia

Acknowledgments

To the doctors, nurses, and chaplain of E-Ward at Fort Meade Veterans Administration Hospital in Sturgis, South Dakota, who so lovingly took care of Dad (Don Seaman),

Thank You!

Introduction

My name is Donald Seaman, and this is my story. It follows my childhood growing up in Montana in a family with ten brothers and sisters when times were rough and World War II was rumbling in a distant place on the other side of the world. It is a story of tragedy, losing a parent at a very young age, survival in numerous ways, and success and triumph later in life. It tells my story of joining the army at age eighteen, sleeping on the White House lawn, being trained as a tank commander in the mechanized cavalry, and shipping halfway around the world to India on a troopship, where we continued our training in preparation for the ground assault on Japan.

The story continues with atomic bombs being dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan; the end of the war; and my continued trip around the world on a troopship to arrive back in the States in San Francisco. Then came my discharge from the army and working on a farm in Washington State, where I operated a tractor on the very edge of cliffs overlooking the Columbia River, before returning to my native Montana to complete my trip around the world.

The story continues with the wonderful way I met my future wife and raised five sons on a small ranch in South Dakota, while I operated my own auto repair shop and gasoline station, delivered mail to rural areas in some of South Dakota's worst snowstorms, blew up chickens, and welded on oil rigs and on America's Minuteman missile sites as we faced another possible world war with Russia. Finally, I experienced the heartbreak of losing my wife to Alzheimer's disease and my youngest son to cancer, retirement, and eventual admission to the Fort Meade Veterans Administration Hospital in South Dakota, where I've been documenting my life and enjoying my family.

I hope you enjoy my life story as much as I have enjoyed sharing it.

Donald R. Seaman, US Army World War II Veteran

Chapter 1

Ancestry and a Ponca Indian Chief

My life story should begin in 1926, when I was born in Montana, but this story actually began over five hundred years ago in England, when my great-great-great-ancestors came to America, played a vital role in the settlement of the Northeastern United States, and eventually settled in Canada; served in the Civil War and discovered the wonders of the American heartland; and trekked by covered wagon from Canada to Nebraska.

Before telling my personal story, I have to tell about my grandfather and grandmother, who lived in Nebraska, worked for the United States Cavalry, and were visited by a native American Indian chief; the interesting story of my father, who survived an explosion in the blacksmith shop where he worked; how he met my mother and raised eleven children; his death from falling off a railroad boxcar; and my mother's role as both father and mother after his death. It all adds up to a wonderful and eventful tale leading to my birth as one of those eleven children.

Seaman: The name derives from the middle English personal name Seman or Semon, composed of the elements sea and man. It was occasionally perhaps an occupational name for a sailor, from the middle English term Seman, meaning sailor.

John Seaman III (1492–1550): I am a very distant relative of John Seaman III, who was born in Newport, Shropshire, England, the same year Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic and arrived in the Bahamas Islands. John died in 1550, exactly four hundred years before the author, Timothy Seaman, was born in November 1950!

Captain John Seaman (1605–1695): Captain John Seaman was born in Essex, England, about 1605. In 1630, he came to America among nine hundred immigrants on ten vessels, arriving in the colony of New York. The immigrants were not pilgrims but rather a puritanic section still adhering to the Church of England. He, along with several other Puritans, traveled from New York to Massachusetts, then on to Weathersfield, Connecticut, where he purchased six acres of land at Wrights Island for the purchase price of one hundred bushels of corn.

In 1641, John settled in the area of Stamford, Connecticut, just as the Pequot Indian War began. He was given command of a company of soldiers from the Connecticut troops and promoted to captain. In 1647, he returned to New York and settled in Hempstead, Long Island, where he became one of the most prominent men in the area. He died in 1695.

Caleb Seaman (1740–1820): Captain John Seaman's great-great grandson, Caleb, was born in 1740 on Long Island in the colony of New York. Caleb was a loyalist who supported the English crown during the Revolutionary War and was imprisoned for his beliefs. After the war and his release from prison, he moved his family from New York to Canada, where they settled in Ontario along the St. Lawrence River. In recognition of his loyalty to the crown, he was granted two hundred acres of land, and several of his children were also granted two hundred acres. He set up shop as a blacksmith and raised eleven children. Most of his children remained in Canada for their entire lives, but several moved across the river to the new United States of America.

Allen Grant Seaman (1818–1897): Caleb's grandson, Allen, was born in Ontario, Canada, and later moved to Wisconsin. During the American Civil War, he served in Company K, 2nd Wisconsin Cavalry, for the Union Army and spent some time in what would be later known as the state of Nebraska. He reported back to his family in Canada about the open prairies and rolling plains that he had experienced and indicated a desire to someday possibly live there. When the Civil War ended, he returned to Nebraska, where he died in Butte, Boyd County, Nebraska, in 1897.

Peter Howard Seaman (1840–1877): Another grandson of Caleb, Peter Howard, was born in Meaford, Ontario, Canada. In 1868, he got the bug for adventure and made the trek to Nebraska by himself, even though he had only been married for about a year to Urania McLean. Urania followed him to Nebraska later that year. Their tales of adventure and stories about Nebraska convinced other family members that it would be worth the journey to give up their holdings in Canada and the northern United States. The result was that at least five siblings and their families decided to make the trek to Nebraska. In spite of the fact that there was train transportation available to parts of Nebraska, the families decided to make the journey by covered wagon so they could take their personal belongings.

In 1869, a reported twelve families consisting of Burleys, Mackies, and Seamans left the area of Meaford, Ontario, Canada, and headed out for Nebraska (the Seaman families were the sons and daughters of David Seaman, another grandson of Caleb). Since they were going to Nebraska to start completely new lives, they took all their possessions in their wagons and herded their cattle along the way. The covered wagons were their homes during the trip as well as carrying supplies. In the late part of 1869, the group arrived in the area of Chicago, Illinois, where some of the families decided to leave the wagon train and remain there while the Burleys headed for Iowa.

In the spring of 1870, the remaining families departed Chicago and, by midsummer, arrived in Osceola, Polk County, Nebraska, where they joined Howard and Urania. The remaining summer and fall months were spent staking out homesteads, submitting homesteading applications, and building sod houses to protect them from the oncoming winter cold. Over the