Oscar Theodore Bentrup...

O. T. Bentrup was born in St. Joseph, Missouri on June 15, 1920 to Alfred C. and Mary Elizabeth Hermesmeyer Bentrup, and passed away on November 30, 2010, at his home in Belle Prairie, Illinois.  He was preceded in death by his parents and all of his siblings: Raymond, Maurice, Alfred (Dutch), Dorothy, Lloyd, and Donald.  He worked as a brakeman, and then as a conductor on the CB&Q Railroad (later the Burlington Northern) from 1940 to 1982, except for the years during World War II when he served in the Third Marine Division.  During his time in the Pacific he fought in the invasions of Bougainville, Guam, and Iwo Jima. 

He married Patricia Ann DuLany in St. Joseph, Missouri on November 6, 1949 at the Zion United Church of Christ, where both remained members.  Patricia survives, along with daughters Susan Johnson (David N.) of Dahlgren, and Jill Heffernan (James P.) of St. Louis; grandchildren Stephanie Heffernan of Columbia, Missouri, Joshua Heffernan and Cora Heffernan of St. Louis, and Ezekiel Johnson of Brookfield, Illinois.

In the top photo we see O.T. on his final run for the Burlington Northern Railroad.

This photo was taken on Ray's wedding day in 1932.  Ray is the tall one on the left.  Lloyd, in front of Ray, died from wounds received on the USS Colorado during the shelling of Tinian in 1944.

Maurice, who was in the SeaBees visited O.T. on Guadalcanal.  I don't know if this photo was taken before or after the Bougainville campaign.

O.T. with his younger daughter Jill, in 1957.

Daughter Susan, O.T., and Pat, with dogs Teddy and Liza, planting another tree on the farm.