National Clothesline

Drycleaner, Soldier

Daniel Rachefsky, 81, a former drycleaner and World War Ii veteran, passed away recently due to pneumonia and respiratory failure at Washington Adventist Hospital in Takoma Park.

Mr. Rachefsky had owned drycleaning and custom drapery businesses that served customers in the Washington, DC area for over four decades.

A longtime resident of Beltsville and Olney, the second generation Washingtonian was drafted into the Army while he was a senior at Eastern Senior High School.

He first took part in the campaign on New Guinea, where Allied soldiers landed on the beach at Aitape in 1943. During a stint of combat that lasted 96 days, he was one of only 12 soldiers (out of an original 41) who survived the last battle at Ibdi Pocket.

During another mission in the Philippines— which lasted 114 days altogether — he emerged as one of only eight survivors.

He was present at the occupation of Hiroshima toward the end of the war. He was ultimately discharged in 1945 as a staff sergeant.

When he came home following the war, he took the reins of his grandfather’s corner market, which was located at First Street and Florida Avenue NW. He renamed it “Sunset Market” after his Army division.

During his lifetime, Mr. Rachefsky also opened drycleaning businesses located on Connecticut Ave. and Rhode Island Ave. in DC. In fact, his businesses were among the first One-Hour Martinizing franchises in the District.

In 1965, he opened a Drape-Rite Customer Drapery Cleaning store in Hyattsville where he served residential customers, as well as business and government clientele.

Mr. Rachefsky was survived by his wife, Hanh Rachefsky of Olney and Beltsville; and three children, Dana Rachefsky, Rebecca Rachefsky and Carroll Rachefsky, all of Olney; and two sisters, Marian Sher and Annette Tobin, both of Silver Spring.

Cleaner, Allied tradesman

Herman B. Kraun passed away on September 2 in Roswell, GA, at the age of 84. He began his career in drycleaning as a teenager while working at his father’s Laundry Plant in Trenton, NJ. Other than his time in the Army Air Corps during WWII, he remained in the laundry and drycleaning business until the “permanent press era” of the early 1970s.

After a move to Atlanta, GA, in 1974, he noticed a revitalization of the industry and once again became an owner/operator of a drycleaning plant for 10 years.

Mr. Kraun spent his last 20 years selling supplies to the drycleaning industry. He retired in 2005 at the age of 83.

He is survived by his wife, 5 children, 10 grandchildren, and 4 great grandchildren.