Verhovayak Lapja, 1945 (28. évfolyam, 1-52. szám)
1945 / Verhovay Journal
;Pöge 8 _____Verhovay Journal February 28, 1945 THE VERHOVAY EPIC.., MISSING FLIER Lt. JOHN J. KOLLAR Jr., a member of Branch 88, of Y cesboro, Pa., serves with the Army Air corps. He is one of the tens of thousands of fliers who are entrusted with the job to bomb the industrial plants anc. railways of Germany, th -reby slowly weakening the resistance of the Nazi armies defending the borders of Germany. Many of these fliers are killed during their dangerous missions and an even greater number of them is wounded or missing. But the results of their self-sacrifice are apparent. The transportation sy tem of Germanw is near colla ii.se and armament production ha í been slowed down to a point .Where it cannot any more supply i the Nazi armies with all the weapons they need. Lt. John J. Kollar failed to return from one of his bombing missions over Germany. We fervently hope that his family Will soon receive good news as to his safety and well-being. * *- * S ,'Sgt. ALBERT LENGYEL CHALKS VP 64 MISSIONS After 64 missions as aerial em/meer-gunner on a B-26 Me-ander over enemy occupied Europe, Tech. Sgt. Albert Lengyel was given a well earned 21 day furlough which he spent it Ci his parents, Mr. and Mrs.] Joseph Lengyel of 1329 D. Str,, I Johnstown, Pa. Sgt. Lengyel is a 1 ember of Branch 8, Johnstown, Pa. The gunner who flew his 64th mission on his 23rd birthday, has been based in Africa, Italy, Sardinia, Corsica and France and received *his furlough from Engl >■ d. He is a veteran of Antio/ the all-out bombing of Cassino,! the bombing of Rome, and the j softening process and invasion of Southern France. Until December 14 last, the flier’s group teas the ovi;/ one attaining the Croix de Guerre. All members of his original crew have returned home on furlough. Sgt. Lengyel entered the Army in October, 1942 and won his gunner's wings at Tyndall Field, Fia., in December, 1943. He attended the Lincoln Aeronautical Institute in Lincoln, Nebr., and received his combat training at Bo tsdale, Field, La. In civilian life he was employed at the Haws Refractories. Sgt. Lengyel has a brother and a SISTER serving with the ir~ned forces. His brother, Staff Sergeant Alec Lengyel, has been wounded twice on the western front and is note recovering in a hospital in England. His sister, Lt. Bertha Lengyel, is with the Army Nurses Corps in France. Albert Lengyel has reported for reassignment on February 13, in Miami, Florida. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lengyel have made a great contribution to this nation by rearing two sons and a daughter, all three of I whom have an exceptional record to their credit. The Lengyels are j justly proud of their three \ children and we of the Verhovay I are happy to share their pride. By the way, Branch 8 of Johnsj town, Pa., seems to be excep' tionally fortunate having several Lengyel families on its membership roll. Last year, in May, we published a long story about Pvt. William A. Lengyel who is the son of Mr. Steven Lengyel. We are certainly proud to count the sons and daughters of Steven and Joseph Lengyel amoung our fellow-members'. May they all return safely to their home-town and with their exceptional qualities help build up a new happier world! VERHOVAY SOLDIER LUZON GUERRILLA. PVT. FRANK GYOVAI We take exceptional pride in presenting to the membership of our association the grandest chapter of the Verhovay Epic, a story which we consider the greatest as yet received. It is about Frank Gyovai, a member of Br. 482 of Whitesville, W. Va., of whom the TIMES HERALD. Washington, D. C., carried the following story on February 4, 1945. GIRL FINDS BROTHER IS LUZON GUERRILLA “I could hardly believe my eyes.” This was the comment of Miss Margaret Gyovai, of 200 Block Columbia Rd. N. W., yesterday as she told of seeing her brother’s name in the Times-Herald as one of the American guerrillas who participated in the raid on the prison camp on Luzon. “I had hoped that he would be one of the prisoners who were released but this was even better news’’ — the young, dark-haired woman, who works as a clerk in the Office of Defense Transportation, said. WITH FLAG HELD HIGH. The article in which Miss Gyovai spotted her brother’s name was the story by Frank Hewlett United Press war correspondent, in the February 1 edition. The story stated that ‘‘PVT. GYOVAI was one of the six barefoot Americans, bearded, tired but happy, who marched up the Luzon plain with the flag held high on a Bamboo Pole, singing as they walked back into the American lines.” It explained further that he had been a member of a guerrilla band composed of 3,000 hilldwelling Negritos and some Americans, who had escaped from Bataan, commanded by Lieut. Henry Clay Conner, Jr., of East Orangp, N. J. PRESERVED FLAG IN PILLOW. The flag which he was reported to be carrying was one which the guerrilla band had kept sewn ■ in a pillow for three years and had never touched the ground in three years of Japanese occupation, Hewlett maintained. “My brother went overseas in September, 1941, and was reported missing since the fall of Corregidor," Miss Gyovai said. “The last word we had from him was in December, 1941. Now to learn that he has been safe and well is the happiest news my family could récéivé.” , Words fail us to describe the emotions that fill us while we write this story. It would be an understatement to say that we are superlatively proud that il was Frank Gyovai, a Verhovay soldier, an American soldier of Hungarian descent, who carried the flag that had never touched the ground during the three years of Japanese occupation. Think of it! Six American soldiers who with a guerrilla band of several thousand Negritos harassed the Japs throughout the three years of occupation crowning their guerrilla warfare by the dramatic raid on the prison camp in Luzon that resulted in the liberation of the American and Philippino prisoners, soldiers and civilians who for three years have suffered from the bestial cruelty of the perverted Japanese militia, and then, barefooted, bearded but happy marched back •into the American lines in military order on the Luzon plain . . . AND ONE OF THEM HAD TO BE A VERHOV AY AN, AN AMERICAN HUNGARIAN MINER'S SON! And yet we know only the beginning and the end of the story. The beginning when these six Americans daringly escaped from Corregidor and took to the hills to carry on a war of their own against the enemy. . . and the end, when they marched back 'into the American lines . . . But all that happened during those three years? We shall probably hear about that later on. Just before starting to write this story, another letter arrived from the manager of Branch 482, Mr. Louis ,Gall, containing the first letter of Frank Gyovai to his family since the fall of Corregidor. The letter is as significant as the story of the Luzon guerrillas, and we are happy to present it to our readers as a document of the spirit of the Verhovay soldier. Jan. 30, 1945. “HELLO, EVERYONE! I guess you will be rather surprised to hear from a little boy who has been missing for three years. Didn’t I tell Mother and Dad when they came down to Fort Knox, Ky., to see me, that I WOULD BE BACK AND THAT 1 WAS ABLE TO TAKE CARE OF MYSELF? The past three years’ experience is one long story and 1 could write letter after letter and not cbver it all, so I’ll wait until I get home and tell you about it. I don’t think that even Frank Buck’s hair-raising experiences or anyone else’s have anything on me. Yesterday was ONE OF THE HAPPIEST MOMENTS QF MY LIFE WHEN I WALKED IN AND JOINED OUR FORCE. I NEVER MJET A FINER BUNCH OF MEN OR OFFICERS IN ALL MY LIFE. I am in good health and raring to celebrate. I am anxious to get all the news from home. I guess I have and dad’s health than I was about been more worried about mother’s myself at times. I am anxious to hear how things have been going at home for the past three years with my friends and relatives. I don’t know as yet when I II be home but when I do come home, the first thing I want to try some of mother’s cooking. I hope you are all well and happy and ready to celebrate with me. Love and best wishes to all, Frank or JUNGLE JIM.” * # » In the last issue of the Journal we presented the story of the Third Infantry Division and one of its outstanding soldiers, S/Sgt. Norman Reader Jr. He and our “Jungle Jim” have much in common for both have gone through harrowing experiences yet both have retained their sense of humor^ their kindly disposition and their sincere consideration for others. With his tongue in his cheek, Frank Gyovai begins his letter writing: “I guess you will be rather surprised to hear from a little boy who has been missing for three years . . There is not one word of complaint in his letter, no thought of self-pity . . . buried for three years in the Jungle, fighting continually for his life without adequate food, clothing or shelter . . . Yet he was more worried about Mom and Dad than about himself. “Little boy” indeed! Here is a MAN who has learned to accept the inevitable, resigned himself to his lot and, accepting the challenge, made the best of it . . . We make so much of letters of this type because we have read some rather different letters too. Letters, from soldiers, filled with complaints about the .quality of food, about loneliness and homesickness, about their comrades and officers . . . yet invariably such bitter letters come from men who have never yet seen action! The other day we read a series of letters written by a soldier — not one of Hungarian descent, we are proud to say — that were filled with self-pity, with reproaches to his friends because they did not write him often enough, with complaints about the difficulties of advancement, with lamentations because of his loneliness... and he made it quite clear in every one of his letters that he felt that his family and his nation owed him a very great deal for the sacrifices he waj obliged to make . . . these letters were written from overseas by a grown-up man who had one of the softer assignments and who has never seen action ... It is hard to describe the misery, the anxiety these letters brought to his family . . ., That such sentiments as he described are justified to a certain extent, cannot be disputed. It is hard for each and every one of these young men to be torn away from his home, job and family, it is hard for every pne to live day by day knowing that soon danger and death must be faced ... we know it is hard. But it is also hard for the fathers and mothers, wive6 and sweathearts of these soldiers, to let them go and be separated from them for several years and to spend all these years in constant fear and anxiety for their loved ones. And, therefore, the mothers and wives of these soldiers need as much moral support, encouragement as they do . . . Compare the above with the letters of Norman Reader, Jr., and Frank Gyovai'. . . two soldiers who had death as their companion for three long years... Norman at least had letters from his loved ones throughout this long ordeal, but Frank did not even have that much! For three years he was lost to the rest of the world. For three years he fought against the most atrocious nation that ever lived on the earth . . . And when at last the Americans landed on Luzon, he exclaims: “I never met a finer bunch of men or officers in all my life!” Here is a real man for you, a lover of liberty, a fighter for freedom, a hero of the jungle! And this man is sufficiently modest to admire the men, most of whom have not seen half as much danger and suffering as he had during the long three years in Luzon ... in Bataan . . . Corregidor . . . and finally in the jungle hills . . . To us Frank Gyovai exemplifies the manly character, the invincible spirit and the considerate kindliness that is the national charasteristic of the Hungarian man, and it is our contention that Hungarian immigrants have made their greatest contribution to the land that adopted them as its citizens by rearing sons and daughters in the heritage of these traits. We are proud of Frank Gyovai, the West Virginian American Hungarian miner’s son, who upheld the highest traditions of a liberty loving nation. Our great joy over his return, however, is dampened by the sorrow that is awaiting him. For now he will learn that his brother, Emery, was killed in an air-plane crash in Ireland on April 10th, 1924 . . . Emery was the 47th heroic dead member of the Verhovay . . . Since then the Gyovais mourned for two sons for there was little hope in their hearts of ever seeing Frank again. We are grateful that their mourning had turned into joy by the safe return of their son, a hero of Bataan, Corregidor, and Luzon . . . Frank Gyovai! The 52,000 members of the Verhovay F. I. Association and all American citizens of Hungarian descent salute you!
