Post commemorates World War II airman KIA with artifact

Post 174 in Ellsworth, Kansas, now honors a local man who was shot down over Holland in 1944. Delorn Steiner, from nearby Black Wolf, was one of three brothers (alongside Clayton and Everett) to serve in the Army Air Corps during WWII, and the only one who didn't return alive.

Delorn was buried in Holland, and eventually re-interred in Ellsworth.

A young boy in Holland saw the plane go down. Decades later, he would go in search of the Steiners. Eventually, he reached Delorn's nephews, Dan and Jim Steiner - Clayton's sons. During a visit Dan made with his wife to Holland, Jan van Grootel - now in his 80s - gave them a fuel cell from Delorn's plane, which he'd kept all these years, said Eugene Peterman, Post 174 commander.

After the Steiners approached Post 174 and asked if they could donate the object, along with a display case. They also made a donation to the post, Peterman said.

"I said definitely. Our post would be proud to have that there. . . . Their memory will live on - everybody that looks at that hanging on the wall will remember Delorn and his other two brothers who fought for the United States," Peterman said.