Pfc. Maurice Joseph Ott was the 8th child of Rev. Joseph Ellwood and Ida Myrtle (Haight) Ott. Maurice was the 1st husband of Marian S. (Stavana) Ott Fetterhoff. Marian died March 2, 2012. He was the father of Janice (Ott) Buterbaugh.
My father, Pfc. Maurice J. Ott was Killed in Action on June 22, 1944 by a German machine gun. Maurice was born on October 8, 1918 in Clearfield, Pennsylvania, to Joseph E. and Myrtle Ott. He was the third youngest of 10 children. My grandfather was a minister until the loss of 2 daughters within 6 months of each other when my father was 2 years old. Grandfather Ott then went back to school and became a chiropractor. They moved to Kane, PA at that time and my father was raised there.
My father belonged to the 29th Division, 116th Infantry. After training in England for D-Day, he landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944 in the Second Wave. He made it through the horrors of Omaha Beach that day only to lose his life 16 days later. He was on a special mission to hunt out the enemy near Couvains, France when he was killed by a German machine gun.
He was returned to the United States in 1948 at the request of my Grandmother Ott. He now rests in Hillcrest Cemetery in Clearfield, PA with his parents and sisters.
I miss not knowing my father since I was only 16 months old when he was killed. Through The American World War II Orphans Network, of which I am a member, I learned most of what I know through their support and encouragement, including finding my father’s Army Buddy and a very dear cousin I never knew I had.
Your daughter
