S1c Peter Dean Ott

Peter Dean Ott was born July 23, 1922 near Akron, Ohio. His mother, Hannah Troutman Ott, was a homemaker, and his father, Harry Ott, an electrician.

Peter Dean was still in high school by the time of the April 1940 Census. He had completed two years of high school at Springfield township near Akron.

Mr. Ott enlisted in the Navy on Sept. 9, 1940 — the same week in which 20 Akron-area men signed up. One of them was another former Springfield student, Wayne Harold Presson, who was four years older. Both men went aboard the U.S.S. Arizona on Dec. 4, 1940, and were killed in the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Dec. 7, 1941. They are jointly honored on a plaque at the Springfield school.

Mr. Ott’s brother Harold served in the Navy from May 1940 through May 1948. A sister, Betty, worked during the war as an electrician on B-24 four-engine heavy bombers.

Sources: The Akron (Ohio) Beacon Journal; theSuburbanite.com; Census; Navy muster roll; U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs death file; Ohio birth index. This profile was researched and written on behalf of the U.S.S. Arizona Mall Memorial at the University of Arizona.