PVT Thomas Edward Otto

courtesy of Frogman

PVT Thomas Edward Otto was born in 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. He was the 2nd of 3 children born to Earl Delos and Margaret C. (Lowery). His parents seem to have separated/divorced sometime around the birth of his younger brother William in 1927 and his mother re-married and moved with her children to live in Howard, Ohio. Thomas' step-father, William D. Burton, worked at various jobs and the family moved quite a bit living Michigan, California and Ohio. Thomas and William were left to live with their maternal grandparents in Toledo before 1935. His grandfather supported the family with a job he got with the Works Progress Administration (WPA) working on street maintenance in Toledo which paid $450 in 1939. Thomas was fortunate to complete 3 years of high school.

Thomas was drafted in October 1943. After his basic combat training he was sent to the European theater and on 28 Jun 1944 was transferred from the replacement depot to E Company 116th Infantry. PVT Ott was wounded on 11 Jul 1944 and evacuated to hospital. We aren't certain when he was returned to the unit but he was fighting with the unit on 7 Aug 1944 when he was killed in action.

PVT Otto rests forever in the Brittany American Cemetery.