Dittman

Meredith E. Dittman, 88, of Butler passed away peacefully Thursday afternoon at the VNA Inpatient Hospice.

Born May 2, 1924, in Foxburg, he was the son of the late George W. and Estella (Shaw) Dittman.

He graduated from St. Petersburg, Richland Township School as a member of the first class to spend 12 years in the new school. He then attended the Anderson Airplane School in Nashville, Tenn., in 1942. Following that, he worked as a riveter on the C-46 transport line at the Curtis Wright Aircraft factory in Buffalo, N.Y.

Meredith was a veteran of World War II, serving in the U.S. Army, training with the Hq Co. 272 Infantry Regiment 69th Infantry Division at Camp Shelby in Mississippi, and later served with Co. A, 143 Infantry Regiment 36th Infantry Division in Italy. He received three Purple Heart medals, the first in the first crossing of the Rapido River, the second on the Crest of Monte Cassino and the last in the Vacinity of Velletri.

As a result, he was hospitalized in the Deshon Army Hospital in Butler from September of 1944 until January of 1945 when he was released and returned to duty at a POW camp in Indian Town Gap Military Reservation, Pa., in July of 1945.

He eventually received a Certificate of Disability Discharge in October of 1945.

He then worked as an oil field roustabout on the Fox Estate, Foxburg.

He served in the Korean War with the G-3 Training Aids Headquarters Co. 7th Armored Division at Camp Roberts, Calif. He was a U.S. Air Force veteran from 1954 until 1957 with the 18th Motor Vehicle Squadron Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan, and the 3201 Aircraft Repair Squadron, Eglin Air Force Base in Florida.

Meredith retired from the Pennsylvania Refining Co. in Karns City after 28 years.

He was a lifetime member of the American Legion Post 636 in Foxburg, the VFW Post 7073 in Parker and was a former member of the Society for Creative Anachronism from 1988 until 1990.

Surviving are his beloved wife, Mary Lou “Chiyoko Takida” Dittman, who was born on the Japanese island of Amami Oshima. They were married at the American consulate in Naha Okinawa, and she was naturalized in Butler in 1970, where she changed her legal name to Mary Lou.

Also surviving is his daughter, Ruthie, and her finance, Mark Jankowski, of Gibsonia.

DITTMAN — There will not be a visitation for Meredith E. Dittman, who passed away Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012.Cremation services provided by the Geibel Funeral Home, 201 E. Cunningham St., Butler.