Individual Details

Death

Since he spoke German he was one of the first to land (Ramona).

Steve Hanken writes: He may very well have been the first man to die in the D-day invasion. It all started out when I found a photo of him in my dads stuff. I knew he had died in WWII, and I was interested in finding where he was buried. For two months I looked, trying to find his grave and eventually discovered it was in Illinois where his brother was from. As I understand it, the brothers Onken were born in America, their family, or at least their parents, had come over prior to WWI, and settled near Chicago. Just before WWI they all returned to Germany. Unfortunate timing on the part of the father, he was drafted into the war for Germany and died a week before the armistice. The boys remained at home with their mother, but she too died within 6 months or so after her husbands death. The two boys, both American citizens by birth, decided to come back to America. they had two older sisters who were married and stayed in Germany, but the boys decided to come back. John spent this time living with his Uncle John Heyen, in Langworthy and worked out among the many farmers who needed help. He eventually joined the Army and was in a Cavalry outfit that mechanized. His assignment was to a Scout Troop and that is how he was assigned to shut down an island off the French mainland that was premised to be a location where the Germans could command detonate explosives on the beaches of Normandy. The story goes that a man who handed out rifles on the LST had given John a weapon and turned around to get another rifle when John detonated a land mine killing him instantly. This assault took place an hour before the first troops hit the beaches at Normandy.