Ora Blaw

Ora Joseph Blaw (May 24, 1907 – March 18, 1944) was a soldier linked to Scott County who was killed in World War II.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born May 24, 1907, in Peny Will, Mo., Ora J. Blaw was the son of Joseph Albert Blaw and Mary Roberta Moore. He was married to Agnes F. Meintrup and had a son, Ora Joseph Blaw Jr., who was born in 1928 in Illinois. He then married Frances Marie Jones in 1934. They had a daughter, Norma Jean Blaw, who was born in 1931.

Although records show that he enlisted in the U.S. Army from Scott County, he was not from Scott County and there is no indication that he ever lived here. He lived in Missouri, Memphis and Detroit, as well as other locations. When the 1940 census was taken, he lived in Memphis with his wife and daughter, while his son lived with his ex-wife and her new husband in East St. Louis, Ill. It’s not clear what his connection to Scott County was. His first wife was from Illinois and his second wife was from Missouri.

World War II

2LT. Blaw enlisted in the U.S. Army in late 1942 or early 1943 and was assigned to the Army Air Forces Ferry Command. He was killed in a plane crash near Niagra Falls in Buffalo, N.Y. on March 18, 1944.

Aftermath

2LT. Blaw was buried at Park Lawn Cemetery in St. Louis County, Mo.

He is listed on the VFW Post 5669 Memorial Wall in Oneida, the Scott County Veterans Memorial in Huntsville, and the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial in Knoxville.