Last updated: May 30, 2022
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Four Veterans, Four Wars, Four Homestead Stories
On Memorial Day, we reflect on and remember those who gave their lives in service to their country. The following are stories of four veterans from the Civil War, World War I, World War II, and the Vietnam war. Each of these veterans were impacted by homesteading and by war. Sharing the stories of those who "gave the last full measure of devotion," we honor and remember these veterans, three of which received the Medal of Honor posthumously, for going above and beyond the call of duty.
Civil War
Seth Foote was born on January 25, 1834 in Fitchville, Ohio. He married Amorette E. Rich on July 1, 1859, and the couple’s first and only son, Dellizon, was born in 1860. Seth joined the Pike’s Peak Gold Rush in what was then the western part of Kansas Territory, before enlisting in Company A of Kansas’s 8th Infantry Regiment in August 1861. Foote was quickly promoted to a 2nd Lieutenant. He served as aide-de-camp to Colonel Heg, in the Army of the Cumberland, where he participated in the battle of Chickamauga. Foote lost his life in the Battle of Missionary Ridge, which left the Union in control of the state of Tennessee.
Following the war, Amorette and Dellizon learned of the Soldiers and Sailors Homestead Act of 1872, and that they were entitled to homesteading benefits as the widow and heir of a Civil War soldier who gave his life in service of his country. They moved westward, to Beadle County, South Dakota, where Amorette staked a claim on a 160-acre homestead. The patent was issued to “Amorette E. Foote, widow of Seth Foote, deceased” on June 29th, 1888. Her son, Dellizon, acquired another 160 acres in the same section. Amorette went on to provide educational and missionary outreach work before retiring to Omaha in 1908, where her son had been practicing medicine after receiving his M.D.
General Land Office Records for Foote Homestead
World War I
The Ingram family, of Blount County, Alabama, acquired hundreds of acres of public domain land through the Land Act of 1820 and the Homestead Act of 1862, between 1853 and 1891. Augustin, Robert, and Rufus Ingram purchased land in the 1850s, and then a generation later Counsel, Robert, and Sarah Ingram homesteaded in the 1880s and early 1890s.
Osmond Kelley Ingram was born in Oneonta, in Blount County, Alabama, in 1887. The son of Robert L. Ingram and Naomi Elizabeth Lea, he grew up working on the family farm. Osmond decided to join the U.S. Navy as a young man, enlisting as an Apprentice Seaman in November of 1903. During World War I, he served on the U.S.S. Cassin, a destroyer which operated off the Irish coast. When the Cassin came under attack by a German submarine, Ingram spotted an incoming torpedo, and dashed towards the depth charges to defend the ship. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his sacrifice in attempting to save the ship and his shipmates. He was the first posthumous recipient of the Medal of Honor in World War I, and the USS Osmond Ingram (DD-255), a World War II Destroyer, was named in his honor.
NH 91637 Gunner's Mate Third Class Osmond K. Ingram, USN
Osmond Kelly Ingram | World War I | U.S. Navy | Medal of Honor Recipient (cmohs.org)
General Land Office Records for Robert L. Ingram
World War II
Jack J. Pendleton was born on March 31, 1918, near Sentinel Butte, Golden Valley County, North Dakota. He was born to Grover Pendleton and Dora Gretchen Byer Pendleton, who had a 320-acre homestead claim which they proved up on and received the patent to on March 3, 1921. The family relocated to Yakima, Washington, where Jack worked at a lumber mill before he enlisted in the U.S. Army, Company I of the 120th Infantry, 30th Infantry Division. He shipped out for Europe in 1944, participating in the Allied advance into Europe after the D-Day landings. On October 12, 1944, Staff Sergeant Pendleton went above and beyond the call of duty, when his company was advancing on Bardenbarg, Germany. He volunteered to knock out a machine gun which was pinning his men down.
His citation reads “After advancing approximately 130 yards under the withering fire, S/Sgt. Pendleton was seriously wounded in the leg by a burst from the gun he was assaulting. Disregarding his grievous wound, he ordered his men to remain where they were, and with a supply of hand grenades he slowly and painfully worked his way forward alone. With no hope of surviving the veritable hail of machine-gun fire which he deliberately drew onto himself, he succeeded in advancing within 10 yards of the enemy position when he was instantly killed by a burst from the enemy gun. By deliberately diverting the attention of the enemy machine-gunners upon himself, a second squad was able to advance, undetected, and with the help of S/Sgt. Pendleton's squad, neutralized the lone machine gun, while another platoon of his company advanced up the intersecting street and knocked out the machine-gun nest which the first gun had been covering. S/Sgt. Pendleton's sacrifice enabled the entire company to continue the advance and complete their mission at a critical phase of the action.”
Pendleton was awarded the Medal of Honor posthumously for his actions, which was presented to his mother, Dora, on May 29th, 1945.
The World War II United States Army Transport Ship Sgt. Jack J. Pendleton was named in his honor.
Jack James Pendleton | World War II | U.S. Army | Medal of Honor Recipient (cmohs.org)
Jack J. Pendleton | ND Department of Veterans Affairs
General Land Office Records for Grover Pendleton Homestead
Vietnam War
Ronald Leroy Coker was born in Alliance, Nebraska on August 9th, 1947. He was the descendant of several Nebraska homesteaders. His grandfather William S. Coker, his grandmother Jane Alexander Coker, his great-aunt, Jane Coker, his great-uncles Charles and John Coker, and his uncle Clyde Lester all successfully received land in Box Butte and Morrill counties in western Nebraska between 1891 and 1917. All told, the family had nine claims for over 2,000 acres, under the original 1862 Homestead Act, the 1904 Kinkaid Act (which granted homesteaders in the Nebraska Sandhills up to 640 acres of land), the 1873 Timber Culture Act, and the 1820 Cash Sale Act.
Ronald Coker served with the United States Marine Corps after being drafted in 1968, deploying to Vietnam in November 1968 with Company M, 3rd Battalion 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division. On March 24, 1969, his patrol came under attack. A grenade threatened the life of a wounded member of his squad, so Coker “unhesitatingly… grabbed the grenade with both hands and turned away from his wounded companion… severely wounded but undaunted he refused to abandon his comrade.” Coker gave his life that day, succumbing to the wounds he received protecting members of his squad. For his courage and devotion above and beyond the call of duty, he was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor, one of seventy Nebraskans awarded the Medal of Honor for their heroic actions.
Ronald Leroy Coker | Vietnam War | U.S. Marine Corps | Medal of Honor Recipient (cmohs.org)
General Land Office Records for William S. Coker