Fassbinder, Kenneth Joseph 1920 - 1944

FASSBINDER, BROWN

Posted By: Reid R. Johnson (email)
Date: 1/11/2024 at 23:46:47

Clayton County Register, 04 May 1944.

Kenneth Fassbinder, Aero M 1/c, was buried here with full military honors by the American Legion Monday morning. The funeral of the young navy petty officer, who died in the New Orleans Naval hospital of acute peritonitis, was the first military funeral to be held in Elkader in this war. Services were held at 10 o'clock at St. Joseph's church with the Rt. Rev. Msgr. J. P. Taken officiating at the requiem mass assisted by the Rev. Father Boyle.

Kenneth Joseph Fassbinder, son of Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Fassbinder, was born Feb. 13, 1920, at Guttenberg. When he was three years old he moved with his parents to Dubuque and lived there until 1930 when he came to Elkader with his parents. He attended St. Joseph's parochial school and Loras college.

Jan. 16, 1941, he joined the Navy and spent four months in training at Great Lakes before being sent to the Aerographer's school at Lakehurst, N.J., for four months. After a short furlough spent at his home here he was transferred to the Naval Air station at San Juan, Porto Rico, where he served for 22 months.

He was married Dec. 13, 1942, in St. Augustin's church at San Juan, Puerto Rico, to Dorothy N. Brown, and after their marriage they lived at San Patricio, Puerto Rico, for six months before Mr. Fassbinder was transferred to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Monterey. He served in the Pacific theatre, where he took part in the Gilbert Islands invasion.

Dec. 13, he received orders to return to the states. He landed at San Francisco New Year's Day and arrived home Jan. 04. He reported to Dallas, Texas, and was sent to Natchitoches. La, where he began his flight training. Jan. 26 he was taken to the hospital for an emergency appendectomy from which he seemed to recover quickly and went back to school Feb. 21. March 14, feeling ill he went to sick bay and was sent to the Naval hospital March 28. April 25, when his illness became critical the Navy department and Red Cross both wired his grave condition and he died at 12:40 a.m., Wednesday, April 26. The body was escorted by Naval corpsman Joseph Rosenblum, who had attended Mr. Fassbinder the last six weeks and who remained until after the burial.

Besides his parents and wife, he is survived by two brothers, Richard J. of Rockford, Ill., and A/C Gerald J. Fassbinder, U.S.N.R., of Iowa City, and one sister, Donna Mae, of Elkader.

The escort for the body at the funeral included Corpsman Joseph Rosenblum, Chief Elmer Jungblut, U.S.N., Pvt. Harry Kelleher, Jr., Richard Wolf, Lyle Barthel and Lero Cords.