World War II veteran Bill Kovacic is proud of his town of Arma.
“There were three families that had five boys each, and all 15 served in World War II, all went overseas, and they all came back,” he said. “No other town in the United States of America boasted our record.”
His families was one of those three. Kovacic and his brothers Frank, John, August and Henry all served in the war. They were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kovacic.
Also serving were Sam, Paul, John, Charles and Frank Varsolona, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Varsolona, and Victor, Paul, Frank, John and Andrew Kmetz, sons of Joseph J. Kmetz.
“Each of the three families had sons named Frank and John,” Kovacic noted. “They must have been good names in those days.”
Another similarity — all 15 were sons of parents who emigrated to the United States and were naturalized citizens. Kovacic’s father, Frank, came from Primorsko, Austria, and his mother, Martha Gorowski Kovacic, was from Borchersdorf, East Prussia (Germany).
“There are only two left of the 15 — me and Paul Varsolona, who lives in Kansas City,” Kovacic said.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1945.
“I was in the southwest Pacific, which was between Australia and Japan,” Kovacic said. “I was in New Guinea quite a while. There were no cities there, just jungle.”
His unit left New Guinea on Oct. 14, 1944, on the USS Waite.
“The place where we loaded our ships, Lae, New Guinea, was the same area where Amelia Earhart took off,” Kovacic said. “She was never seen again.”
During a Japanese attack at Lae, he and others in his unit bombed a Japanese ship at Lae with 10,000 tons. He was in the 892nd Chemical Company, which had white phosphorous and gas weapons.
While in New Guinea he was able to see one of his brothers, John Kovacic.
“He was on the same island, but in a different outfit,” Kovacic said. “He came over and met me for a while.”
On Oct. 14, 1944, Kovacic left New Guinea on the U.S.S. Waite and went to Layte, the Philippines.
“We had just got into the bay when one of those Japanese suicide planes hit the ship and made a hole about the size of a car, just above the water line,” Kovacic said. “It hit at the front of the ship and killed everybody there. I was in the back, so I was all right.”
He was honorably discharged from the army in 1945 with the rank of tech sergeant.
“In World War II there was no such thing as coming home in 12 or 13 months,” Kovacic said. “We never came home until the war was over.”
On June 27, 1947, he married Louise Marcelline Silvers.
“We lived in the big city of Arcadia — and it was a big city then,” Mrs. Kovacic said. “There were eight of us children, but our folks had room for all of us.”
Sadly, one of the eight, Bernie Silvers, was killed in World War II.
“My folks really suffered,” she said. “Years later, when our daughter Susie’s husband was in the army, we got to go over and see my brother’s grave. My mother was still living then, but she wouldn’t go with us. She had grieved enough.”
The couple has three children, Joan Cleland, William J. Kovacic and Susan A. Polhlopek.
Kovacic worked in several jobs, primarily in the coal mines. Kovacic was with the Mackie Clemens Coal Co. from 1961 or 1962 until his retirement in 1985, working at the North Mine in the Mulberry-Arcadia area. He first drove a truck hauling coal from the pit to the tipple for cleaning and processing, and later operated a front-end loader loading clean coal onto trucks and rail cars.
He has also been active in Lon M. Helm Jr. American Legion Post 182, Arma, and served as post commander for several years. Kovacic was also active in the Arma VJ Homecoming for many years, serving as co-chairman and then as chairman of the horse pulling contest.
He will mark his 90th birthday on Nov. 28, and sometimes jokes that he’s “so old I don’t even buy green bananas any more.”
But Kovacic doesn’t see anything funny about war.
“Personally, I don’t see that wars solve anything,” he said. “There’s just loss of life on both sides.”
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World War II veteran Bill Kovacic is proud of his town of Arma.
“There were three families that had five boys each, and all 15 served in World War II, all went overseas, and they all came back,” he said. “No other town in the United States of America boasted our record.”
His families was one of those three. Kovacic and his brothers Frank, John, August and Henry all served in the war. They were the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Kovacic.
Also serving were Sam, Paul, John, Charles and Frank Varsolona, sons of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Varsolona, and Victor, Paul, Frank, John and Andrew Kmetz, sons of Joseph J. Kmetz.
“Each of the three families had sons named Frank and John,” Kovacic noted. “They must have been good names in those days.”
Another similarity — all 15 were sons of parents who emigrated to the United States and were naturalized citizens. Kovacic’s father, Frank, came from Primorsko, Austria, and his mother, Martha Gorowski Kovacic, was from Borchersdorf, East Prussia (Germany).
“There are only two left of the 15 — me and Paul Varsolona, who lives in Kansas City,” Kovacic said.
He served in the U.S. Army from 1941 to 1945.
“I was in the southwest Pacific, which was between Australia and Japan,” Kovacic said. “I was in New Guinea quite a while. There were no cities there, just jungle.”
His unit left New Guinea on Oct. 14, 1944, on the USS Waite.
“The place where we loaded our ships, Lae, New Guinea, was the same area where Amelia Earhart took off,” Kovacic said. “She was never seen again.”
During a Japanese attack at Lae, he and others in his unit bombed a Japanese ship at Lae with 10,000 tons. He was in the 892nd Chemical Company, which had white phosphorous and gas weapons.
While in New Guinea he was able to see one of his brothers, John Kovacic.
“He was on the same island, but in a different outfit,” Kovacic said. “He came over and met me for a while.”
On Oct. 14, 1944, Kovacic left New Guinea on the U.S.S. Waite and went to Layte, the Philippines.
“We had just got into the bay when one of those Japanese suicide planes hit the ship and made a hole about the size of a car, just above the water line,” Kovacic said. “It hit at the front of the ship and killed everybody there. I was in the back, so I was all right.”
He was honorably discharged from the army in 1945 with the rank of tech sergeant.
“In World War II there was no such thing as coming home in 12 or 13 months,” Kovacic said. “We never came home until the war was over.”
On June 27, 1947, he married Louise Marcelline Silvers.
“We lived in the big city of Arcadia — and it was a big city then,” Mrs. Kovacic said. “There were eight of us children, but our folks had room for all of us.”
Sadly, one of the eight, Bernie Silvers, was killed in World War II.
“My folks really suffered,” she said. “Years later, when our daughter Susie’s husband was in the army, we got to go over and see my brother’s grave. My mother was still living then, but she wouldn’t go with us. She had grieved enough.”
The couple has three children, Joan Cleland, William J. Kovacic and Susan A. Polhlopek.
Kovacic worked in several jobs, primarily in the coal mines. Kovacic was with the Mackie Clemens Coal Co. from 1961 or 1962 until his retirement in 1985, working at the North Mine in the Mulberry-Arcadia area. He first drove a truck hauling coal from the pit to the tipple for cleaning and processing, and later operated a front-end loader loading clean coal onto trucks and rail cars.
He has also been active in Lon M. Helm Jr. American Legion Post 182, Arma, and served as post commander for several years. Kovacic was also active in the Arma VJ Homecoming for many years, serving as co-chairman and then as chairman of the horse pulling contest.
He will mark his 90th birthday on Nov. 28, and sometimes jokes that he’s “so old I don’t even buy green bananas any more.”
But Kovacic doesn’t see anything funny about war.
“Personally, I don’t see that wars solve anything,” he said. “There’s just loss of life on both sides.”
