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Milenuis found foster family in France

Torsten Milenius with Captain and Madame Cuissart

The first man from the City of Warren to be wounded found a second family in the process.

At the time, organizations and individuals in Warren had been pledging to support the cost of caring for French children orphaned by the war.

“The kindly couple shown here, out of the thankfulness of their hearts to the great nation in the west, adopted a Warren boy,” according to the book Warren County Boys Over There.

That boy? Torsten Milenius, serving in the U.S. Marines.

The couple? Captain and Madame Cuissart.

“He enlisted from Cleveland with his brother, Sigurd Milenius, and saw early service on the western front.”

He was wounded at the Battle of Chateau-Thierry in July 1918, one of the first major American Expeditionary Forces ventures in the war.

“Milenius was the first boy from this city to be wounded in France…. After being wounded, he was removed to a base hospital and it was while recuperating from his wounds that he met the delightful French couple, who cared for him as they could while he remained in France.”

Milenius survived his wounds and eventually returned to Warren.

A 1935 Warren Times-Mirror article lists Milenius as involved with the Red Cross in caring for World War I widows. He also appears in a 1950 article when he was appointed to a blood drive committee through Struthers Wells. At the time, he was called a “well known civic minded” man.

In 1962, Milenius and a colleague sold their manufacturing companies – Tiona Manufacturing and Ray Industries – to Betts Machine Co. The business was located at 1602 Pennsyvania West and re-named “Tiona-Betts Inc.,” the Times-Mirror reported.

“Tiona manufactures products for the liquid-hauling industries and Ray Industries principal product is a “mirror-mount” which enjoys wide acceptance and distribution to the furniture industry.”

Milenius remained in a supervisors capacity with the company after the sale.

He married a girl named Rachel and is buried with her in Oakland Cemetery. He passed away in 1962 and she died seven years later.

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