Our Neighbors in the Service
Sloan, Iowa—Private Donald F. Olson, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frances Olson, is home on a 14-day furlough. He is a member of a glider infantry unit at Fort Meade, South Dakota.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, March 29, 1943
SLOAN’S FIRST WAR CASUALTY
Pvt. Francis Olson Is Killed in Leyte Invasion
Sloan, Ia.—Special: Pvt. Donald Francis (“Bud”) Olson, 31, was killed December 5 on Leyte, according to a telegram received from the War Department by his wife. Pvt. Olson, reported to be the first Sloan service man to be killed in this war, was the son of Mr. and Mrs. John S. Olson.
Entering service at Fort Crook, Neb., November 11, 1943, he took his basic training at Camp Fannin, Tex. He was stationed at Fort Ord, Cal., until going overseas last September. Pvt. Olson went to the Philippines from New Guinea, landing there late in November.
The soldier was home last June on an emergency furlough after his mother was injured in an automobile accident.
Born February 7, 1913, in Little Sioux, Ia., Pvt. Olson attended Sloan schools and was graduated from the high school here in 1931. He married Hazel Coons May 20, 1936.
The Sloan soldier was an employe of the Iowa state highway commission for six years, and in 1942 took over operation of Bud’s Café in Sloan. He operated the restaurant for a year before entering service.
Survivors are the widow; the parents; a daughter, Drea Mardell, 8, and a son, Donald Stanley, 4; two brothers, Richard and Starl. All are of Sloan.
Source: The Sioux City Journal, January 18, 1945 (photo included)
Donald Francis Olson died Dec. 5, 1944 and is buried in Fairview-Albaton Cemetery, Albaton, IA.
Source: ancestry.com
