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Stories of Honor: Orphaned at 5, a disciplined childhood prepared WWII vet for the Army

Buffalo News - 5/10/2021

May 10—In May and June, The Buffalo News will tell the stories of some of Western New York's veterans who served in the armed services in World War II and beyond.

Know of a veteran's story we should tell? Let us know by calling 849-4444, emailing citydesk@buffnews.com or submitting a name at buffalonews.com/news-tip/.

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The Army's regimented life was a shock for some after they entered the service.

It was old hat for World War II veteran Elmer Wienclawski, who spent most of the war on a Northern Mariana island.

Wienclawski, born in October 1919, during the Spanish flu pandemic, was raised beginning at age 5 in a German Catholic orphanage in Buffalo where discipline was strictly enforced. He and four siblings were sent to live there after the death of their parents.

The Civilian Conservation Corps, one of the signature New Deal programs to get through the Great Depression, and where Wienclawski spent two years prior to the Army, was also regimented.

"I was always disciplined and in the Army it was the same way," said Wienclawski, 101, who recently spoke about his life and military service from his Town of Tonawanda home.

He credits the orphanage for teaching a lot of life skills that served him well, though he said it was also like living in a jail since home and school were under one roof and leaving was restricted.

At the recommendation of an older brother, Wienclawski joined and flourished in the Civilian Conservation Corps, a two-year program that hired single men to work in parks, forests and other public lands.

"You learned everything. Everything!" he said. "I learned how to chop down trees, I worked as a surveyor, I learned how to drive a truck, operate a bulldozer, how to grade hills."

President Biden has cited that program as an inspiration to call for a Climate Conservation Corps.

Wienclawski was put in charge of supplies when it was discovered he had taken bookkeeping, typing and shorthand at Riverside High School.

"I learned everything about ordering supplies, from truck parts to charcoal furnaces," Wienclawski said.

It turned out to be perfect training for the four years he spent in the Army.

When his time was up, Wienclawski went to work as a crane operator at American Brass. He got his draft notice in 1942 and reported to a Niagara Falls induction center in 1943.

Within a short time he was made a supply sergeant at a base in Portland, Ore. On furlough, he returned to Buffalo that October to marry Amelia Boblak, who he met in his teens when they were frequent roller-skating partners. They were married for 76 years until her death in February 2020.

Wienclawski was transferred the following month and was a supply sergeant in Saipan, an island under Japanese control.

Among Wienclawski's photos is one of him posing shirtless with three of his military buddies, a cigar dangling from his mouth.

He was there during the three-week Battle of Saipan that began June 15, 1944. More than 3,400 Americans died and over 10,000 were wounded. An estimated 29,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. Civilian casualties were heavy.

A wall in Wienclawski's living room displays two painted handkerchiefs made by civilian prisoners of war who lived on the barracks. He also keeps two dolls with kimonos made by another Japanese prisoner from rags dipped in cosmolene oil to clean rifles.

Wienclawski remains deeply touched by the works of art and the people who generously made them.

"I believe in judging people the way you would judge yourself," he said, adding that he fought against German and Japanese soldiers who "didn't want to go against us anymore than we did."

"So you don't want to hold anything against them, and I don't," he added.

Wienclawski left the service in 1946 and returned to Buffalo, where his bride was waiting for him and his siblings still lived. He finished high school at a school for veterans and was rehired at American Brass, where he oversaw molten metal furnaces for much of his 45 years there.

The World War II veteran is a member of the Milton J. Brounshidle American Legion Post 205 and the Harry E. Crosby VFW Post 2472.

He was a longtime volunteer with the Brighton Fire Company.

Wienclawski is grateful for the life he's led despite the loss of his parents and the hardships that came after their deaths.

At the same time, there are wartime memories he would just as soon forget and is reluctant to discuss.

"I don't like to watch movies of the war," Wienclawski said. "That brings back memories that you don't want to keep remembering."

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