Harold Bellamy, Korean War Vet

(Left) Harold Bellamy at the 2010 Chicago premier of Vincent: A Life In Color. He is wearing insignia of the 24th and 25th infantry regiments of “Buffalo Soldiers,” U.S. Army units of African-American soldiers. During the Korean War, the 24th infantry was the last segregated regiment to see combat.

13-Feb-13 – Long-time Marina City condo owner Harold G. Bellamy has died, the condo association at Marina City announced on Tuesday.

Bellamy was 79 years old, originally from East Chicago. Although he had lived at Marina City for only 16 years, he owned a studio apartment in the east tower for 28 years and had been on the condo association’s board of directors since 2008.

His career included 13 years as an overhead crane operator in a steel mill, 33 years as an office manager and trainer for Kirby Company – the vacuum cleaner manufacturer – and at least 20 years as a regional manager in the financial services industry.

It was his service in the Korean War of which he was most proud. According to a 2009 candidate information form, he was a military police officer for a “special reporting squadron” of the U.S. Air Force. He was also a veteran of the National Guard. On the Marina City condo board, he was chairman of the security committee.

In November 2007, he was appointed to the condo board to fill the remaining term of Berry Stevens, who had resigned the previous month. That same year, Bellamy competed in the National Veterans Golden Age Games, the largest sporting event in the world for senior veterans, placing third in the air rifle competition. He won election to a one-year term on the condo board in 2008.

In 2009, he won a gold medal at the National Veterans Golden Age Games.

(Above) Bellamy enjoyed handing out these $1 million bills, presumably fake, with his photo on the front.

He appears in the 2008 documentary Vincent: A Life In Color, about fellow Marina City resident Vincent Falk. Coincidentally, in January, he and Falk were both living at Warren Barr Pavilion, a nursing facility in River North.

Bellamy died on February 2 of cancer, according to the condo association’s announcement.