Theodore G. Ott "Deanie"
Yoeman 1st Class
USS Indianapolis (CA-35)
Yeoman First Class Theodore G. Ott was born March 19, 1923, in Eddyville, Iowa, the 2nd of 4 children. In elementary school he fell in love with Peggy Perry the minute he first saw her, although she did not know that yet. As a young boy, he would hide in the bushes just to watch her walk home from school.
When he was 14 years old, times were hard in Eddyville, with jobs impossible to find, so they moved to California just in time for "Deanie" (his family's beloved nickname for him) to go to high school. His baby sister,
Patricia,
says that as a child Deanie had 3 dreams...to be a sailor, to marry Peggy, and to be a dad...after high school he fulfilled his first dream and enlisted in the Navy in 1941.
In November of 1944,
Deanie and Peggy
were married. His 2nd dream was realized.
In February of 1946, Peggy gave birth to twins,
Theodore and Peggy.
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All of Deanie's dreams had come true, but he would never get to know his children.
Theodore is memorialized on the Tablets of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines and at the USS Indianapolis Memorial in Indianapolis, Indiana. He earned the Purple Heart Medal, Combat Action Ribbon, Navy Unit Commendation Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and Congressional Gold Medal.
View Full Bio at Project 888
