Ladislaus “Lad” Zawacki was born on 25 July 1912, in Peru, Illinois, to George and Anna (Kotecki) Zawacki. His parents were both life-long residents of Peru who had married the year before his birth. The couple had two sons following Lad’s birth: Edward who was born in 1918 and Raymond, born in 1923. Tragically, when Lad was 13, his brother Raymond passed away at the age of two due to broncho-pneumonia. Growing up in Peru, Lad attended the local grade school and lived a modest life. By 1930, his parents had purchased a home at 1803 Pulaski Street, where Lad,…
Tag: SBTS
PFC Adolph Edward Yagodich, Service No. 0849923
Birth and Early Life Adolph Edward Yagodich was born on 8 January 1919, in Peru, Illinois, to George and Mary (Remsek) Yagodich. His father, George, was an immigrant from Yugoslavia, arriving in America in 1907. His mother, Mary, was from Austria and arrived in the U.S. in 1913. The couple married in January 1914, and by December of that year, Adolph’s older brother Theodore was born. Two years later, his older sister Sophia joined the family. Initially, the Yagodich family resided in LaSalle on Third Street while George worked as a miner. They later moved to a home they owned…
TEC5 Edward William Sell, Service No. 36312542
Edward William Sell was born on 13 September 1915, in Peru, Illinois, to Max and Anna (Fitzsimmons) Sell. Edward’s father Max was a German-born immigrant who traveled to the U.S. as a young boy with his parents and sister and brother. Edward’s mother was born in Illinois. Max and Anna married in Peru on 7 August 1907. As a young boy Edward lived in a home his parents rented at 1409 Pulaski street in Peru with his three sisters, two older and one younger, and two younger brothers. His father was an electrical engineer at the local Zinc Works for…
PVT Albin J. Pocivasek, Service No. 36693406
Albin John Pocivasek was born on 10 June 1919, in the city of Peru, Illinois, on the first of a 10-day stretch of 90 plus degree days. His parents, John and Mary (Setinc) Pocivasek, were immigrants from what was then Austria, hailing from the towns of Rann and Bukosek respectively—areas now part of eastern Slovenia. Albin was their second child with the first being a son named John. The Pocivasek family’s early days in America were filled with both opportunity and hardship. Albin’s father, John, operated a soft drink parlor and provided for his family until tragedy struck. He succumbed…
PFC Ralph William Mueller, Service No. 36062038
PFC Ralph William Mueller was born on 18 August 1911, in the city of Peru, Illinois—a small city nestled in the heart of the Illinois Valley. His parents, John and Petronilla (Wagner) Mueller, were both natives of the area, with deep roots in the local community and large extended families. Ralph also had a younger sister Mildetta who was born in 1914. Ralph’s paternal grandparents William and Mary (Schwamborn) Mueller were immigrants from Ruppichteroth and Heßheim in Germany respectively. They left their country for the U.S. in the early 1880s. Upon arriving, they met and married in 1882, and eventually…
S SG Frank Florian Liss, Service No. 36014000
Frank Florian Liss was born the day before Christmas in 1916, in Peru, Illinois, to Frank and Anna (Budziak) Liss. He was the third son born to the couple. Frank Sr. worked as a machinist and ultimately a sheet metal worker at the cement mill. By 1930 when Frank Jr. was 14, the family was living in a home they purchased at 715 Fifth street in Peru. Frank’s upbringing was possibly influenced by his maternal grandmother, Josephine Budziak, who lived just a few blocks away. His paternal grandmother, Josie Liss, also resided in the area living in 1930 in LaSalle…
S SG Alfred Charles Knudtson, Service No. 16079636
Alfred Charles Knudtson, born on 5 June 1921 in Peru, Illinois, was the second child of James C. and Luella (Schmidt) Knudtson. Alfred’s father was a Norwegian immigrant who arrived in America in 1889 under the name James Christian Winter. James Knudtson ultimately settled in Peru, Illinois, where he met and married Luella Schmidt in November 1910. Much of Alfred’s life was spent in his family’s home at 2229 State Street in Peru with his parents and three sisters— Genevieve, Mavis, and Ruth. Their father James supported the family by working when he could as a cigar maker. As a…
1 LT Valerian Emet Klein, Service No. O-819407
Valerian Emet Klein, who entered this world on 26 April 1920 in Peru, Illinois, was the first-born son of Henry A. and Clara M. (Zaniecki) Klein. His early years in his Roman Catholic family were marked by the hardworking ethos of his father, grandfather, and uncle, all employed at Westclox—a local clock factory. Tragedy first struck the family with the death of Valerian’s grandfather, a German immigrant, who succumbed at age 60 to flu and pneumonia when Valerian was just under a year old. Throughout his childhood, Valerian experienced further personal loss; his younger brothers, Howard and William Edward, passed…
PVT Albert Lee Johnson, Service No. 36673535
Military Service In the summer of 1943, 21-year-old Albert Lee Johnson joined the U.S. Army to serve his country in World War II. He trained at Camp Reynolds near Greenville, Pennsylvania and in May 1944 deployed overseas as a medical aidman in the 18th Infantry Regiment of the 1st Infantry Division. A month later he parachuted into Europe as part of the D-Day invasion. In the ensuing months, PVT Johnson’s resolve was unyielding as he aided his unit across the war-torn landscapes of France and Belgium. Amidst the chaos of one of his unit’s battles in Germany on 15 September…
PFC JOHN ANTHONY TORCHIA, SERVICE NUMBER 36438620
John Anthony Torchia’s story is a poignant reminder of the human cost of war and the valor of those who serve. He was born on 27 June 1922, in LaSalle, Illinois, to Anton and Angelina (Colmane) Torchia, immigrants from Parco, Sicily, Italy (now Altofonte). John’s father, Anton, had arrived in America in 1912 at age 16, and married John’s mother, Angelina, in 1920. John’s mother Angelina made her own journey of immigration from Italy to the U.S. in 1906 at age four along with her mother and younger brother Antonio. John’s early life was steeped in the close-knit, hardworking community…