The Father I Never Knew.

Josephine "Mama Jo" Stanek was 22 years old and 7 months pregnant when my Dad was killed. He just knew I was going to be a boy and that he wanted me named David.

As often was the case, she would say that he was a quiet, kind and shy man. Dad was in the Indiana State Guard in the early 40's and they planned to get married in 1942. He was called up in July, 1942 to Indianapolis and promptly flunked his physical. He immediately called Mom and said "Let's get married, I'm not going to war." They were married September 25, 1942. As typical of our government he was drafted November, 1942, with an official enlistment date of November 17, 1942. He was in Camp Maxey as a member of the newly activated 102nd Infantry Division. He spent from November to approx. August, 1944 at Camp Maxey, Texas and Camp Swift, Texas, participating in the infamous "Louisiana Maneuvers". During that time, Mom had moved to Texas and they were able to spend quality time together. He was then at Fort Dix, New Jersey, where they helped "liberate" the City of Philadelphia by acting as guards on the city transit system during a severe transit strike. He went to Camp Kilmer for final inspection and then boarded the John Ericsson for transit to Cherbourg France, arriving September 22,1944.

I believe he may have participated at some of the Red Ball Express at that time as a co-driver or guard. The 102nd officially entered combat on October 23, 1944 in Heerlen Netherlands. That was the first city they liberated. They progressed and fought through various small villages in western Germany, all part of the Siegfried Line. Dad was killed on November 29, 1944 in a three-day-long battle in a muddy, rotten, sugar beet field near the Hubertus Cross on the Linnich to Lindern Road. There were no tanks or heavy artillery available so they attacked the concrete bunkers and pill boxes with hand-carried heavy weapons. They fought alongside the 84th Division against the German 10th Panzer Division.

Dad was temporarily interred at Margarten cemetery in the Netherlands near Maastricht. He was disinterred and returned to the United States October 6th, 1948 and is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois.

I was very fortunate in my research to have met a number of men who knew my father personally. They told me he was a great guy, fun loving and a joke teller. He always hung with the married men and did not mess around, nor was a skirt chaser. One of the men I talked with said he was referred to as kind of "gung ho" which means if there was a job to get done, he would be the one to say if we work together we can get it done quicker and then sit down and have a coffee or a beer. That report sent chills down my spine because that is exactly like me.

From these conversations, I don't think Dad was quiet or shy, and I found I was more like him. But he probably was quiet and shy around Mom. As you can see from any picture she was a beautiful woman, so as a 21-year-old man, Dad was probably just intimidated by her beauty.

This was hard for me to write as I never knew him. I was fortunate that when Mom remarried, she married Dad's brother, my Uncle Jerry. Dad, Mom and Uncle Jerry are all together at Holy Cross Cemetery and I will be there as well.