Floyd Flecie Forte was born on January 26, 1910, in Vieste, Provincia di Foggia, Puglia, Italy, and immigrated to the United States with his family in 1913. He attended Ravenna High School and Kent State College for a year. He entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on July 1, 1930, graduating in June 1934 as a Second Lieutenant of Infantry. In September 1934, he was assigned to the 29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, and in 1937–1938, he attended the Infantry School at Fort Benning. After completing the Regular Course in June 1938, he was assigned to the 20th Infantry Regiment at Fort Francis E. Warren, Wyoming, serving there until late 1939. He then briefly joined Headquarters and MP Company, 6th Infantry Division, at Camp Jackson, South Carolina, before receiving overseas orders to the Philippines in early 1940.

Upon arrival in the Philippines, Forte joined the 45th Infantry (Philippine Scouts) at Fort McKinley, Luzon, later commanding its Machine Gun Company as a Captain, promoted on September 9, 1940. With rising tensions preceding the war, he was transferred on August 21, 1941, to Iloilo, Panay, where he helped integrate and train Philippine Army units entering U.S. service. Soon after, he took command of the newly formed 61st Infantry Regiment, 81st Philippine Division, leading it from Panay to Negros before handing command to a senior officer in late 1941. By December 1941, he was promoted to Major and reassigned as a logistics officer with the Corps and Defense Area staff, first at Cebu and then at Del Monte, Mindanao. In April 1942, he requested a more active combat role and was reassigned as Chief of Staff of the 81st Philippine Division, his former unit, and the Lanao Defense Sector on Mindanao.

Maj Forte was killed in action on July 31, 1944, near Ganassi, south of Lake Lanao, while organizing resistance and personally firing on Japanese attackers. His name is memorialized in the Tablets of the Missing in the Manila American Cemetery and Memorial, Manila, Capital District, National Capital Region, Philippines.

Source of information: www.findagrave.com, alumni.westpointaog.org, weremember.abmc.gov