1938 Oct. Joined the Army, Fort Lewis Washington (basic training)
1939 Aug Transferred overseas Scholfield Army Barracks, Hawaii.
1941 Dec 27 Commissioned overseas - Scholfield Army Barracks, Hawaii.
1943 Jan Departed for Guadalcanal
1943 Jul New Georgia and Vella Lavella Islands campaigns
1943 Nov New Zealand (60 days)
1944 Feb Regroup and training for New Caledonia Campaign Solomon Islands.
1944 Oct 5 Commissioned overseas, Luzon
1945 Jan 9 "Hit the beach at Lingayen Gulf"
1945 Feb 17 Flesh wound right leg, (sniper, hand grenade), Luzon
1945 Mar 27 Wounded by enemy machine gun fire, in Luzon and med-evac'd out.
1945 Apr 1 Transferred to Mcall General Hospital
1945 Jul Surgery to repair nerve dammage. Nerve repair did not work.
1946 Mar Transferred to Bushnell General Hospital for amputation of right leg. Which he would not allow.
1946 Apr Transferred to Letterman General Hospital for fusion surgeries and bone transplant.
1948 Oct 29 Was retired from service at 50% disability with honor.
Why Hawaii??
If you knew my Grandfather, you would not have to ask.
I imagine that being there reminded him of the time he spent there in basic training, with his buddies, in a tropical paradise. He and my Grandmother would go to Hawaii every winter and come back in time for Christmas. He loved everything to do with the Islands, and yes, this includes the Tiki Room at Disneyland...uh huh...yep.
He had put in an intercom system in both homes, (Glendora and the Ranch in San Juan), and as long as I can remember, Hawaiian music is mostly what came out of those speakers!
In Glendora, they had a swimming pool and of course, it had palm trees around it with hibiscus bushes and a waterfall that he designed himself. I even have the drawings, but he also had a changing room that they called the Tiki Hut, complete with coconut TP dispenser. It had blowfish lights, cork net floats and sea bubbles all artistically 'tangled' in fishing nets.
This page is about him specifically, so I think it only fair and fitting that I display the things he loved, the things that were important to him, in addition to his life story....truncated of course
A word about sources...
The information I post is information that is gleaned and verified from several sources before I feel that it is true enough to post and that it is something that I feel comfortable in standing behind.
In the case of my Grandfather Olla Albert Kessler however, this also includes first hand knowledge, as I knew my Grandfather my whole life, and of course things written in his own hand. As far as proof of a thing goes, I would say that that is as good as it gets and I wish I had a lot more of it with some of my more difficult to track ancestors!
17 Nov 1921 - Sep 06 1993
1921 Olla Albert Kessler was Born on; 17 Nov in Independence, Kansas. His parents were, Delta Newton and Earnest Lloyd Kessler (1930 Federal Census)
1930 He was living in Creighton, Maricopa, Arizona with his parents and two younger brothers, Ernest and Kenneth
(1930 Federal Census)
1938 Joined the Army (see military service)
1948 Was attending Weber Jr College in Ogden Utah in November 2, 1948 and met Edna Belle Van Zandt
1950 June 1950 Received Degree in Mechanical Engineering with training in Welding, Electrical, Machine Shop Trainings. I am not sure it this is where he cut off the top of his finger but he told me that it was when he worked at a machine shop.
1950 - He worked at Utah General Depot as a machinist. and received many awards for his designs. Which is not 1954 surprising, he could build, repair or design almost anything.
1954 Working for Westinghouse to gain electrosonic experience for Missile guidance system technology.
1957 Working at the Alameda Naval Air Station but then had to go back to Lettermans General Hospital - to have bones removed from toe on left foot.
1959 Machinist's assistant repairing jet engines and overhauling them.
1959 Moved to Glendora to work at Pasadena's Air Research facility, (company moved to Sacramento in June 1960)
1960 18 Jun Married Ruth Butler in Alameda California
1960 M.C.S. Corp Monrovia Microwave and guided missle systems
1964 - Altronic Electronic Corp (funny side story here. My Grandad gave my brother sister and me a little yellow parakeet that had flown into the shop. So he caught him and trained him and named him Altron. Great little bird.)
1966 Was living in Glendora CA. My Grandad started breeding parakeets at this time. He really got a kick out of those lil fellas!
1966 Covina Community Hospital - Scar tissue gave way, wound was ulcerated - no cure - keep elevated
(he was not one for; A) following Doctors orders when there was work to be done B) Being idle when there was work to be done)
1968 - Worked at Roger and Oling Co.
1971
1968 Back to Covina Community Hospital again for the removal of two toes on left foot, impairing his walk considerably. Dr. advised him of hip problems and that he should have a hip replacement.
1970 Al, Ruth and my Mom and Dad (Carol and Dwight Lynn) all went to Las Vegas and renewed their vows.
1972 California Orthopedic Hospital - Fell from flower planter, (while pruning plants), due to poor balance with one paralyzed leg and underwent full hip replacement on left hip but was advised that his right hip was showing signs of arthritic condition and that this was going to be an ongoing problem.
1974 "Altered way of walking was causing back pain, saw a good 'bone' man about it"
1974 V.A. Outpatient Clinic Scar tissue gave way due to not amputating the leg when they initially thought that is should be removed. Doctors strongly suggested removing both legs below the knees to which Al refused blatantly. He was told to stay off his feet or risk losing the use of his legs...something I never saw him do unless he was sleeping.
1973- They moved to San Juan Bautista. I will nail down the date a bit more, when I have better information.
1975
1980 Once again my grandmother, grandad, mom, Dad and Ruth and Wilbur Howe all renewed their vows, in the long barn, on their ranch in San Juan.
198- ? Had an anneurism in his thigh and was in intensive care for a bit but pulled through.
More to follow...
This is how this is going to work,
I am going to break down the information into six parts -
(specific wartime events listed under Service records)
(including service awards/citations)
Kessler Photos
* Memories and stories
(to be added later)
You need only click on one of the links (underlined word or phrase) above, to be taken to that part of this page.
Will that be one S or two?
When using official documents in order to conduct as objective genealogical a search as one can, you can not report how you wish things were or how you thought they were, you can only report your documented findings. This can sometimes be difficult, as I am not all that objective, being a member of the very family that I am researching. I do my best. That being said, there has been some confusion as to the spelling of my Grandfather OA Kesler/Kessler's name. These are my findings;
I am going to be as delicate as I can here. Olla Albert Kessler was born with his name having two 's'. His parents and his ascendants were Kesslers, his war records are under Kessler, his son, Paul is a Kessler and his first wife Edna Belle's last name was Kessler until the day she died, having never remarried. The only two that are not double 's' Keslers were his wife, Ruth and her son, Timothy, that Al adopted.
Having no one to ask, I do not know whether he legally changed his name or did he just lose an 'S' at my Grandmother's urging/insistence, or both? Perhaps to disenfranchise her/himself from everything having to do with his first marriage. Love makes you do crazy things! Who knows, but that is all the explanation I have at the moment
These are some of the documents that I based my information on. I will try to make them all .pdf files but there maybe a word document or two until I can convert them all. They are all downloadable just by clicking on the name of the file below that you wish to see.
Awards Received for Military Service
Bronze Star Medal
Purple Heart
(with one bronze oak leaf cluster)
Good Conduct Medal
American Defence Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Asiatic - Pacific Campaign Medal
(with three bronze service stars)
World War II Victory Medal
Combat Infantryman Badge 1st Award
Philippine Liberation Ribbon
Army Lapel Button
Personal
Military
Misc.
