DesMoines County

 
Ralph Dan Van Etten, S1/c

 

 

 

93 Iowans on Army-Navy Casualty List

The names of 93 more Iowans were included in an army and navy casualty report made public Monday by the Office of War Information.  Twenty are listed as dead, 62 wounded and 11 missing.  The list follows:
Navy Dead
AMOS, Joseph B., Corp., USMCR, DesMoines.
ANDERSON, Charles L. Jr., Corp., USMC, DesMoines.
ELGIN, George L., Pvt., USMCR, Indianola.
FAHRENKRUG, Harold Royal, Watertender 1/c, USN., Kingsley.
VAN ETTEN, Ralph Dan, Seaman 1/c, USNR, Burlington.
WALSH, Philip Michael, Seaman 1/c, USNR, Morning Sun.

Source: Quad City Times, (Davenport, Iowa), Monday, May 14, 1945

Ralph Dan Van Etten was born Mar. 4, 1910 to Charles and Ida May Eads Van Etten. He died Mar. 1945, was buried at sea, and is memorialized at the Courts of the Missing, Court 2, Honolulu Memorial, Honolulu, Hawaii.

Petty Officer Van Etten served in World War II with the U.S. Navy aboard the USS Franklin (CV-13). He was MIA/FOD/KIA in the service of his country and awarded the Purple Heart.

Source: ancestry.com