Nothing ever got Thomas E. Otto down. While recovering in a hospital after having lost a leg during the Vietnam War, he was placed next to depressed injured soldiers in hopes that his upbeat demeanor would bring cheer, said his brother William. “He was always positive, joking around with the nurses and everything,” his brother said. Mr. Otto, 58, died Tuesday, March 23, of complications from brain cancer in Hines Veterans Hospital near Maywood. Raised on Chicago’s Southwest Side, he graduated from Mendel Catholic High School in 1963 and went to work training, buying and selling horses for a wholesaler, his brother said. In 1966, he served in Vietnam as an Army paratrooper, performing reconnaissance. On a mission, a member of his team stepped on a mine. Mr. Otto lost a leg, injured the other and was shot in his right arm. He dragged the only other surviving soldier into some bushes, where they were rescued about 18 hours later. He received a Bronze Star and Purple Heart. After almost two years in hospitals recuperating and learning to walk on an artificial leg, he returned to his job as a horse trainer but found it too taxing. He became a salesman, selling residential real estate in Joliet and then mortgages. Mr. Otto moved to Lake Geneva, Wis., about eight years ago where he could fish and hunt, his brother said. He left his mortgage-salesman job after he had part of a lung removed because of lung cancer about five years ago. He is survived by another brother, David; a sister, Mary Carlberg; and several nieces and nephews. Visitation will be from 3 to 9 p.m. Friday in Hills Funeral Home, 10201 S. Roberts Rd., Palos Hills. Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Saturday in Our Lady of the Woods Catholic Church, 10731 W. 131st St., Orland Park.
