PAUL ANTHONY GVOZDAK — Staff Sergeant, United States Army, Service # 33278182

Paul Gvozdak was born on 20 Nov 1921 in Shoat, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. He was one of seven children of Agatha Kovalchik (1887-1936) and John Gvozdak (1874-1943). They were both from Czecholovakia, married there about 1902, and it was there that their first son, Steve, was born. In 1903 the family emigrated to the United States, settling in the mining county of Fayette, PA. There is a record of their marriage in Ohio without a date given; perhaps a church record. By 1910 they rented a house in Georges, Fayette County and had a second child, Mary. Paul found work in the coal mines. Edward, Kate and Elmer were born before 1920. By that year both Agatha and John were naturalized citizens. A decade later they had two more children – Paul and Margaret – and owned a home. Both Paul and his oldest son, Steve, were miners. By 1940 Edward and Elmer were also employed in the coal mining industry while Paul was a laborer with the Civilian Conversation Corps.

On 16 Feb 1942, age 20, Paul Anthony Gvozdak registered for the draft, listing his father, who was now living in Uniontown, as his contact. Paul worked for Brewer Brothers in Gilmore, Fayette Co and was described as nearly 6 feet tall, 177 pounds with gray eyes and brown hair. Five months later, on 21 Jul 1942, Paul was one of 187 selectees from the county to pass the final Army tests. He joined the US Army the next day in Greensburg, PA, signing up for the duration of the war. He had completed two year of high school, was single and was classed with “Carpenters’ apprentices.” By the end of August, Private Gvozdak had arrived at Camp Croft, SC, one of the Army’s four Infantry Replacement Training Centers. By December 1942, Paul had been promoted to Corporal and was enrolled in Officers training school at Fort Benning, GA.

By the time Paul had reached the rank of Staff Sergeant he was with Company D, 6th Armored Infantry Regiment, which had been re-designated 1 Jan 1942 as Co D, 6th Armored Infantry, an element of the 1st Armored Division. The 1st was one of the first, and for a long time the only, American armored outfits in action. It learned on the battlefields of North Africa and Anzio lessons that were taught its sister units prior to combat, so they didn’t have to learn the hard and bloody way. By early 1944 the 1st was engaged in Italian Campaign along the coast near the towns of Anzio and Nettuno, which lasted from 22 Jan to 5 Jun 1944. Its arrival, along with the U.S. 45th Infantry Division, brought the total Allied forces on the beachhead to 69,000 men, 508 guns and 208 tanks. A two-pronged attack was initiated on January 30 — one to cut Highway 7 at Cisterna di Latina before moving east into the Alban Hills; a second was to advance northeast up the Via Anziate towards Campoleone. By Feb 18, after desperate fighting, the Allies’ Final Beachhead Line was under heavy attack from numerous fronts until a tactical counterattack halted the German advance. On Feb 20, the battle paused with both sides exhausted. During this engagement the Germans had sustained some 5,400 casualties, the Allies 3,500. Both had suffered nearly 20,000 casualties each since the first landings, “far the highest density of destruction in the Italian campaign, perhaps in the whole war.”

Staff Sergeant Paul Anthony Gvozdak was a victim of this battle, possibly on 20 Feb 1944. On 22 Feb 1944 he died from wounds that had been caused by artillery shell fragments. His sacrifice earned him a Purple Heart, which was awarded posthumously to his brother, Steve Gvozdak. Paul was listed as “wounded or missing” on the War department’s list released 8 Apr 1944, although by 13 Jun he was said to have been killed in action in the Mediterranean. Paul Gvozdak was buried in the Nettuno Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy until the end of the war. In Jul 1948 he was one of 192 District War dead returned to New York aboard the USAT Carroll Victory. On 28 Jun 1948, S/Sgt Paul Gvozdak was re-interred with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery, Section 12, site 5840. He was survived by two sisters, Catherine and Margaret, and three brothers: Elmer and Edward, both serving in the US Army, and Steve.

“This story is part of the Stories Behind the Stars project – see www.storiesbehindthestars.org – a national effort of volunteers to write the stories of all 421,000+ of the US WWII fallen on Together We Served and Fold3. Can you help write these stories? Together we Served and Fold3/Find A Grave have smartphone apps that will allow people to visit any war memorial or cemetery and read these stories of the WWII fallen.”

SOURCES

1910 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

1920 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

1930 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

1940 United States Federal Census – Ancestry.com

The Daily Courier (Connellsville, PA) - Tue, Jul 21, 1942 - Page 3 – Newspapers.com

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Anzio

The Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA) - Tue, Sep 1, 1942 - Page 7 – Newspapers.com

The Evening Standard (Uniontown, PA) - Dec 3, 1942 - Page 9 – Newspapers.com

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49195038/paul-a-gvozdak

https://history.army.mil/html/forcestruc/lineages/branches/inf/0006in.htm

Morning Herald (Uniontown, PA) - Jul 12, 1944 - Page 8 – Newspapers.com

Ohio, U. S., Marriages, 1774-1993 – Ancestry.com

Pennsylvania, U.S., Death Certificates, 1906-1969 – Ancestry.com

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Pittsburgh, PA) - Sat, Apr 8, 1944 - Page 9 – Newspapers.com

The Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA) - Wed, Jul 7, 1948 - Page 25 – Newspapers.com

U.S., National Cemetery Interment Control Forms, 1928-1962 – Ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 – Ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 – Fold3.com

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947 – Ancestry.com

U.S., World War II Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-1954 – Fold3.com

SBTS/Pennsylvania/Fayette

Paul A Gvozdak