Mrs. Mary Butchovic of Bonne Terre received a telegram from the War Department Friday, containing the sad news of the death of her son, Private First Class Joseph M. Kohut, who died of dysentery at a Japanese prison camp on May 11th.

This is the first casualty of the present war to affect Bonne Terre, and it is the first news from Kohut since his mother received a letter in September, 1941. He was born and reared in Bonne Terre and enlisted in the Coast Artillery in February, 1941, having been sent immediately to the Phillippine Islands.

He is survived by his mother and half-brother, Frank Butchovic of Madison, Ill., and his grandmother, Mrs. Anna Kohut of Bonne Terre.