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By:
George Andrew Kovalycsik was born
on He attended
Garfield Elementary as a boy and then later went to at math.
During his childhood, he was always active. He loved to swim with
friends and was very good at it. When he was younger his father died,
and his mother, Mary, married Nick Kovalycsik. George and his step-dad
didn't get along very well and they fought a lot. One time he got so mad he
decided to leave home to prove to his dad that he was a man. Later, on help his
country in World War II. He was only seventeen when he enlisted and quit
high school during his junior year. He always liked airplanes and wanted to
work on a carrier, so joining the Navy was only natural. George was very
excited and proud about enlisting, even though the war was mainly
over. Though there were still problems in the South Pacific around
the One month
later, on receive his basic training for military
service. His basic training lasted about eight to nine weeks and it consisted of mostly deck
assignment training and airplane repair and maintenance. During this
time he made one close friend named Paul Amenta
who was from still kept in contact with each other and
even visited each other. During his basic training, most of the food that was
provided was mainly military food and
the rules were very strict. Upon graduation he was issued two uniforms, one
white and the other navy blue, and one white sailor hat. After graduation
George couldn't wait to be assigned somewhere. George was first stationed in US Navy. In June of 1946 the USS Boxer set sail for first tour had begun. The trip from longest, but he didn't care. He was looking
forward to visiting new places and helping his country. Most of his duties were deck
assignments like tying down planes when they landed. The long hours of work
that were required were very exhausting and by the end of the
day he was always ready for bed. Each crew member was provided a ship cabin
that they had to share with another crew member. George shared his cabin with
one of his friends that enlisted with him. He loved working on a carrier and
was very good at tying down planes securely. The only job he didn't like
doing was swabbing the deck because it took so long and the deck
"always" needed swabbing. Finally,
after a few weeks of sailing, the USS Boxer docked in George couldn't believe how beautiful the scenery was and
how nice and friendly the people were. He had always wanted to travel to far
off places and he was very impressed with his first destination. While in
had one of the most frightening experiences of his life. Even
though Japan had announced its surrender to the Allied Powers earlier
that year, most of the Japanese military forces were unaware of the surrender. So
many of these forces were still fighting, thinking
that the war was still ongoing. In but this was part of the USS Boxer's mission, to provide
service for the going on. Also, every night before he went to
bed he would listen to the news about the war on the radio. After its
stop in George's favorite stop on his tour. It was very impressive
and the people were very nice and helpful too. There were a
few days when he had free time to leave the base and explore the
island. Off base he ate a lot of local food and did some sightseeing. On the way
from he attended a USO show and saw the famous Bob Hope. He also
wrote a lot to his mom ever since the ship's departure from regularly received mail from her. One time,
though, a letter from his mom did not contain good news. It turned out that his grandfather
had died recently and they were waiting for him to come
home for the funeral. George decided to finish out his tour and then go home for
the funeral. Later, after the Boxer's last stop in the feeling about leaving. He hated to leave the
ship after the tour and really wanted to continue serving. But he also wanted
to go home and see his mom again and go to the funeral. Half way between the Boxer's
next stop, he took a plane to him home to was Privet First Class Seamen and sadly he received no medals.
When George got back home he
decided to go back and finish high school at company in himself. Soon, he met Ann Mitruska
through some friends at a party. They began dating and on Because it was hard for George and Ann
to visit their grandchildren they decided to move to and his new hobbies were bowling, swimming,
traveling, and flying. Even
though he was very active and lively, he had a history of heart problems ever since his first heart attack in
his early forties. One day in mid summer of 2001, George had another heart attack that sent
him to be fine for awhile. Unfortunately he would not be alright.
About a week later, he had a third heart attack that was
very unexpected. This time George wasn't as lucky as before. the Cleveland Clinic to see if they could do anything. Sadly,
there wasn’t anymore they could do for him. His heart was
too week, and it finally gave out. George Kovalycsik died on funeral was on or actually been involved in combat, but he made the
decision to help his country when it needed him and he made the commitment to
stay on board until his tour had ended even though
his grandfather had died. He is a perfect example of a true American.
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