World War II Honoree

Stanley R. Balzekas, Jr.

Branch of Service

U.S. Army

Hometown

Chicago, Illinois

Honored By

Pearl Thomas

He joined the U.S. Army in 1943 and was mustered into the 112th Regiment of the 28th Infantry Division. He would spend six months in combat before being captured by a Waffen SS unit north of Colmar, France, in February 1945, by which point he had landed in Normandy, fought through the bocage of the French countryside, and marched under the Arc de Triomphe. (His unit was chosen to mark the liberation of Paris with the parade of U.S. soldiers down the Champ-Elysees). He participated in the bloody fighting in the Hurtgen Forest and the Battle of the Bulge where he earned a Bronze Star. After his capture, he spent the remainder of the war in a German Prisoner of War camp.