Material for this page contributed by David Romanowski
September 24 2004
Nanty
Glo World War II casualty
Mike Stefanick remembered
Letter by David Romanowski:I
recently looked up your web site out of idle curiosity because of a personal connection
a member of my family has to Nanty Glo. My father, Edmond J. Romanowski Sr., a
World War II veteran originally from Scranton, Pennsylvania, served with the U.S.
Army's 40th Division, 108th  Infantry,
Company C, in the Pacific and became best friends with a man in his company from
Nanty Glo, Mike Stefanick (photo at right). My father was with Mike when he was
mortally wounded on Mindanao in the Philippines, on June 3, 1945. Mike's
death devastated my father and has haunted him all these years. I was glad to
find mention of Mike's name on your web site's list of "Blacklick
Valley's World War II Casualties Remembered." The pictures of Mike included
here are from my father's photo album from the war. I believe they were taken
in Hawaii, where the 40th was stationed during training. I wrote an article that
appeared in the Washington Post in 1990 about my father's experiences in
the war, and it relates what little I know about Mike's death. I've never pressed
my father for details about his wartime memories, because he still finds it so
difficult to talk about the war.
I
visited the World War II Memorial in Washington with my father when it opened
last May (photo above). There, before the memorial's field of gold stars commemorating
those who died, my father, wearing his Purple Heart, presented a tearful salute
to honor all his fallen buddies, including, and perhaps especially, Mike Stefanick.
My father had come to the World War II Memorial in hope of finding closure, to
try and put to rest the painful memories from that time that have tormented him
all his life. Whether he finally found peace or not, only he knows. |
