John Otto

John Otto, age 94, formerly of Carlisle, passed away on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at Concordia Lutheran Health Services, Cabot, PA where he had been a resident for the past four years.

He was born on April 23, 1921 in Carlisle, PA to the late John H. and Edna Mae Fissel Otto and was the widower of the late Carolyn Petre Otto, his beloved wife of 66 years who passed away unexpectedly in 2007.

John enlisted in the 104th Horse Cavalry at sixteen years old and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant upon graduation from the Cavalry School in June 1942. He was sent to Officer Candidate School soon after the United States was drawn into the beginning of World War II. He graduated from the U.S. Army Parachute School. As a lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division, he was one of 13,000 U.S. paratroopers who jumped into the first wave of the Invasion of Normandy on D-Day. John earned a Bronze Star for valor in the Normandy invasion. Normandy was the second combat jump for him where he was a rifle platoon commander in the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He had jumped into Italy in 1943 and was wounded in combat there. His thoughts were far away from planes and parachutes when he enlisted in the horse cavalry of the Pennsylvania National Guard in 1937. Normandy marked only the halfway point in John's combat career. A few months after D-Day he jumped into the Battle of the Bulge and towards the end of the war was on the front lines in a small village near Hamburg, Germany. John remained in the Army after the war and retired from active duty as a LTC with 23 years of service. He then spent 33 years as a civilian intelligence gathering specialist for the Department of Defense. His assignments took him through the Middle East, Far East, Central America and South America. John finally retired from his government service in 1994 and resided in Carlisle, PA. In 2011 he decided to move to Butler, PA to be closer to his granddaughter Tracy and her family.

He is survived by granddaughter, Tracy (husband George) Lazzo, great-granddaughters, Katlyn (husband Matthew) Lazzo-Mahlmeister and Carly Lazzo, great-grandson, Collin Lazzo, all of Butler; granddaughters, Tina Pavo-Chauvin and Jennifer Pavo; great-granddaughter, Leilani Pavo-Chauvin and great-grandson, Kikoa Pavo of Marietta, GA; daughter, Beverly Hallock; granddaughter, Dawn (husband James) Mangus; great-grandson, Jason Mangus; and great-granddaughter, Heather Mangus; a brother, Robert Otto of Carlisle; and many nieces and nephews. In addition to his parents and wife, John was preceded in death by two daughters, Tamara Pavo and Melanie Jon Otto; a brother, Richard; and a sister, Doris.

Funeral services will be held at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, January 17, 2016 at Hoffman Funeral Home & Crematory, 2002 W. Trindle Road, Carlisle, PA with Rev. Daniel R. Mikesell officiating. Interment will be held privately at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, VA with full military honors. There will be a viewing at the funeral home on Sunday from 1:00 p.m. until the time of the services.

To sign the guestbook, please visit www.HoffmanFH.com