SGT John Stephen Jurkovec

courtesy of Richard Boyer

SGT John Stephen Jurkovec was born 22 Jan 1919 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Stephen and Leonora Jurkovec.  His father died later that same year. His father was a crane operator for Carnegie Steel when he registered for the 1918 draft. Both parents were born in Slovakia, then a part of the Austra-Hungarian Empire. His mother worked in a laundry.

John was working in the laundry business when he was drafted in November 1941.  Eventually sent to the European theater, he was assigned to A Company 116th Infantry from the replacement depot on 11 Aug 1944.  It is likely he had some experience in another unit because he came to A Company as a SGT.  Wounded on 26 Aug 1944 SGT Jurkovec was returned to the unit from the hospital on 2 Sep 1944.  He died of his wound(s) on 9 Sep 1944.  It was noted in the morning report that the initial wound was not reported.  Did he hide a wound in order to return to his unit?

SGT Jurkovec was not repatriated until 1950 and he was buried in the Saint Augustine Cemetery in Millvale, Pennsylvania.