Gora Franklin Pettit, known as Pete to friends and family, served in the United States Army during World War II, from May 9, 1942 to December 19, 1945. His training and advancement from private to corporal took place at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He then received additional training in field artillery operations there, including the use of the Thompson Sub-Machine Gun in July 1944.

According to his Separation Qualification Record from the U.S. Army, Gora was a Staff Sergeant / Chief of Section with the 414th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, arriving in Le Havre, France, on February 17, 1945. He was “responsible for control and coordination of a crew of seven men and tactical employment of weapons in supporting other tactical units in breaking through enemy defenses.” He “directed firing of pieces, also inspection, servicing, and maintenance of weapons and equipment.” The 414th proceeded through France and Germany to Dachau. At the war’s close, Sgt. Pettit and others in his battalion returned to the United States on the U.S.S. Hermitage, which sailed from Le Havre on July 25, 1925, arriving at the New York Port of Embarkation on August 2, 1945. 

Gora (Pete or G. F.) Pettit was born and raised on a farm near Concord in Pendleton County, Kentucky, on August 20, 1912. He was the third of four children of Albert Lee and Alpharetta “Dolly” Davis Pettit; Lucille, Annette, and Edwin being the other three. Gora attended public school in Falmouth, Kentucky, and received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1936. After college he moved to Northern Kentucky, living with his sister Lucille and her husband John Hampton in Erlanger, and sold insurance for Western Southern in Cincinnati. Following his Honorable Discharge from the Army at Camp Beale (California) on December 19, 1945, he returned to Erlanger and married Opal Kathryn Anderson (1915-2004) in 1947; their children include Jay Franklin Pettit (1948-2021; wife Lorain and son Justin Thomas, married to Casey Chestnut Pettit) and Rhonda Sue Pettit (1955-), married to Michael Lee Horn (1948-2023).

During his post-war life, Gora owned and operated Pettit Insurance Agency, was licensed as a Motorist Mutual Insurance agent, and worked in real estate. He was the Erlanger Traffic Court Judge from 1959-1971. Prior to the construction of the current Erlanger City Building, the Traffic Court sessions were held in the basement of an office and apartment building he co-owned with a dentist, Dr. Ed Smith. Gora was active in the Erlanger Lions Club and the Erlanger Christian Church.

Periodically on a Sunday, Gora would drive his family to Falmouth to visit his childhood environs and later began to research his family history. Gora Pettit died on January 26, 1972, after a long illness.

Biography of Gora Franklin Pettit (1912-1972)

Submitted by Rhonda Pettit (daughter)

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