Donald Dean Petersen

Donald Petersen served in the Army during WWII. He was a PFC. Donald was a brother to Elaine Reinke and was born on October 16, 1928. He died on August 23, 1990. After the war, Donald returned to Manning and then moved to Marshalltown, Iowa.


Manning Monitor article------ 1945

Two From Manning Join Regular Army
Paul Francis Mentzer, 17, son of Mr. and Mrs. F. J. Mentzer, and Donald Dean Petersen, 18, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Petersen, both of Manning, have enlisted in the regular army. They completed their physical examinations and were sworn in at the Iowa-Nebraska recruiting headquarters in Omaha. They have now departed for Fort Lewis, Wash.

Both lads enlisted for three years and have chosen to serve, with the first cavalry division. This is in line with the opportunity now being offered to men enlisting or re-enlisting in the regular army for three years to serve in certain specific units now over- seas.
The first cavalry was the first American division to enter Manila in General MacArthur's liberation campaign and the first American unit to enter the city of Tokyo. The division is presently on occupation duty in Japan.

Donald Petersen

ALBION - Memorial services for Donald "Pete" Petersen, 61, of Albion, who died Thursday evening, August 23, 1990, at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines, will be Monday at 1:30 p.m. at the Pursel-Davis Funeral Home, following cremation. There will be no visitation at the funeral home. A memorial fund is being established.

Mr. Petersen was born in Shelby County, Iowa, on October 16, 1928, the son of Carl and Olivia (Christensen) Petersen. He was first married to Joyce Witt. Later he married Ardella Billman, who survives.

He was reared and educated in Manning and attended Manning High School. He served in the U.S. Army from 1946-49. He came to Marshalltown in 1959 and had been a plumber with Browne, Ritland, and Nidermann Plumbers. He moved to Albion in 1984 and at the time of his death was a truck driver with H&W Motor Express. Mr. Petersen was a member of the Moose Lodge, Teamsters Union, and the American Legion in Conrad. Preceding him in death were his father and one son.

Surviving, besides his wife, are his mother, Mrs. Olivia Petersen of Manning; two children, Cindy Simon of Olympia, Washington, and Craig Petersen of Marshalltown; two step-children, Cressant Dutton of Albion and Brandon Dutton of Marshalltown; two grandchildren; and one brother and one sister, Carl Petersen of Storm Lake and Elaine Reinke of Manning.