Eatwell, Darrell 1941-1961

EATWELL, HENNICK, BROWN, SANDERS

Posted By: Nora Borts (email)
Date: 6/11/2007 at 03:35:26

Colfax Tribune, Colfax, Jasper County, Iowa
23 Nov 1961

Mingo Youth Dies In Navy Accident

Darrell Eatwell, 20, of Mingo, died of asphyxiation Monday while serving aboard the U. S. S. Helena as a member of the United States Navy.

According to report, Eatwell, in company with another sailor, Kenneth L. Van Luvern, 20, of Sault Ste Marie, Michigan, had entered a void tank to remove a mooring line. Unable to breathe inside the seldom used tank, the two youths started to climb out of the tank when the Michigan sailor collapsed inside the tank. Eatwell who had already came out, saw the Michigan youth fall from the ladder back into the tank and went after him, loosing his life in the attempt to rescue Van Luven.

The Mingo youth is survived by his father Alfred Eatwell and his step mother, Mrs Ethel Eatwell, both of Mingo; a sister Mrs. Rodney (Wanda) Brown of Des Moines; a brother Alfred Eatwell Jr., of Newton; a step brother, Jerry Fuller of Portland, Oregon; a step sister, Mrs. Vernon Sanders of Mingo and his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ervin Hennick of Maxwell.

He was a member of the Methodist Church in Mingo, and was born in Maxwell, Iowa, July 29, 1941. He was preceded in death by his mother in 1953.

He attended the Mingo Community schools and was a graduate with the class of 1960. He had been on active duty with the navy since shortly after graduation.

Funeral arrangements were pending this writing.