Otto Kanserske [surname apparently misspelled on plaque and alternate spelling Kanserski was seen in some documents]

Birth: 8/24/1894, Cleveland, OH

Address: 3547 W. 65th St., Cleveland, OH

Demographics: Caucasian; per 1910 census he was age 14 and living with mother, stepfather, and siblings with occupation listed as "packing" in a box factory

Appearance: not known as no draft registration card found

Draft Date/Enlistment Date/Rank: draft date not known; enlistment date 3/26/1915; rank Private

Service Number: 122190

Deployment: not known

Action: USS Utah Apr 6/17; 83 Co 6 Regt Quantico VA Aug 8/17; France Nov 19/17. Aisne; Champagne-Marne; Defensive Sector. AEF Nov 19/17 to death. Char exc. (may mean Corps of Engineers)   

Death: June 24, 1918 at age 23; cause of death Killed in Action

Burial: buried locally in France; body exhumed from "Clearing Bois Belleau" and reburied 6/4/1919 at American Cemetery Belleau Aisne, France; body disinterred and returned to Hoboken, NJ from Antwerp, Belgium on 8/6/1921 aboard U.S.A.T. Wheaton; final burial 9/6/1921 at West Park Cemetery, 3942 Ridge Rd., Cleveland, OH, Lot 267 Section 14 Grave S 1/2

Next of Kin: Mrs. Augusta Oehmke, mother, 3547 W. 65th St., Cleveland, OH

Additional Information: Private Otto Kanserske was most likely killed in the Battle of Belleau Wood (June 1-26, 1918), considered a turning point in the war as U.S. Marines stopped a German advance on Paris, albeit with heavy casualties. Father: Theodore (alternate name Kanserski) (1864 to ~1905), born Germany, emigrated 1881, occupation Laborer; Mother: Augusta Klump Kanserski, (1867-1939), born Germany, emigrated 1885, per 1900 census: 7 children living out of 8 born; Siblings: Emma (1887-1949); Albert (1888-1949); Hattie (1890-1961); William (1892-1970); Theodore (1896-1914); Herman Kane (1898-1952). Widowed mother Augusta remarried in 1906 at age 38 to Wilhelm Oehmke, age 50, a carpenter, both having lost a spouse approximately a year earlier; mother Augusta was buried alongside sons Otto, Albert and Theodore at West Park Cemetery, Cleveland, OH. In addition to his father's death in ~1905, brother Theodore died in 1914, and Private Otto Kanserske died in 1918, so this family suffered multiple losses in approximately a 13-year period.