John Anthony Ferencak
T/5 in Signal Co, Special : Radio C
Military occupational specialty: 776 (radio operator, low speed)
ASN#36705931
Born 1920 in Slovakia, Died 1995
Other residence(s): Chicago, IL; San Jose, CA; Wilmington, NC; New Hanover, NC
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
John Ferencak was born in Kysak, near Obišovce, Slovakia on July 17, 1920. He was less than a year old when his parents emigrated with him to the US, settling in Chicago, IL. They had a second child, a daughter Helen, in 1927, but she died as an infant, leaving John to grow up as an only child. John’s father worked as a janitor in a Chicago apartment building.
After graduating from high school, John went to work for a couple of years. He registered for the draft on February 16, 1942, and enlisted later that year on October 30. He eventually joined the Signal Company Special, and saw service in Europe with that unit during the war. He was discharged on October 21, 1945 with the rank of T/5 and returned to Chicago.
By 1950, John was working as a precision grinder in a can company. He married Helen Visgardas on April 26, 1954, and they became the parents of a son, William, the following year.
At some point in the late 1950s or early 1960s, John took a job as an inspector at a General Electric facility in California, and the family relocated to San Jose. John and Helen may also have had a daughter, Susan.
Later the family moved to Wilmington, NC.
John was living in New Hanover, NC when he died on May 9, 1995.
Sources:
1940 census
1942 draft card
1950 census
1954 marriage record
1966 San Jose, CA city directory
1982 son’s engagement announcement in The Daily Progress (Charlottesville VA)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/965568341/?match=1&terms=john%20a%20ferencak
1982 son’s marriage record
1994 US phone and address directories, Wilmington NC
1995 VA death record
1995 Social Security Applications & Claims Index
1995 North Carolina death index