Ottumwan Killed - Joseph Darrell Elsensohn, above, aviation ordnance man first class, was killed in an accidental explosion while serving in the navy in the Pacific. He was the husband of Mrs. Margaret Elsensohn of 1617 West Main street and the son of Frank Elsensohn of Ottumwa. Elsensohn was well-known in Ottumwa and vicinity as an athlete. He was a basketball star in the high school at Douds and Bloomfield and played baseball for the Ottumwa All-Stars and other independent teams.
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He was the son of Mrs. Wortha Elsensohn of Douds and was reared at Douds. He graduated from the Douds high school class of 1937. He married Lois Thompson of Bloomfield on March 11, 1939. To them was born one daughter, Dianne. Later he married Margaret Carruthers of Ottumwa, who survives..
Elsensohn took his boot training at the Great Lakes and was sent to Memphis, Tenn., where he attended gunnery school. He was transferred overseas in July, 1944. He is also survived by his father, Frank Elsensohn of Ottumwa and a brother, Sgt. Floyd Elsensohn of Texas..
**Handwritten: FEB. 1945
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Ottumwan Killed In Naval Explosion.
Mrs. Margaret Elsensohn, 1617 West Main, was notified Friday that her husband, John Darrell Elsensohn, 25, aviation ordnance man first class, had been killed by an accidental explosion while serving in the navy in the Pacific..
Elsensohn was born November 18, 1919, and was reared at Douds. He was married February 14, 1942, to Margaret Carruthers of Ottumwa. He was employed by the Morrell Co. before entering the service in September, 1942, and had been overseas since last July as a member of an aircraft carrier..
Surviving are his wife, a daughter by a former marriage, Deanna Elsensohn of Bloomfield; his father, Frank Elsensohn of Ottumwa; his mother, Mrs. Wortha Elsensohn of Douds, and a brother, Corp. Floyd Elsensohn of Texas..