Gather today to honor the life and memory of Steve Husak.

Also pay respect to his family

Brother Thomas Wilmington, Del
Sisters, Judge Lillian Podgarski, Philadelphia, PA
Victoria Christine, Houston TX

Children
Son, Stephen
Daughter, Debbie Kelleher

7 Grandchildren
Debbie's: Joe
Kim
Shaun
Deb

Brother, Tom: Stephen
Barbara
Daniel

And his 5 great grandchildren


Who was Steve? Unfortunately many if us here in Florida only knew him as Debbie's dad, or Joe's Grandpa. Others only as the feeble, skinny old man sitting at the bar at Runyon's on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nites drinking his cranbery juice & Kettle One (which I can assure you he loved)

But Who -------- really?
As Debbie can attest,
Independent & outspoken
Protective & sometimes cynical
Guarded and cautious
Extremely loyal to those he loved
Maybe a little hard & crusty aroound the edges
But a father - standby & protect his family at all costs

He expected to have a private life and didn't hesitate to tell anyone --- "mind your own business" if he thought you were intrusive

But beneath the hard, gruff exterior a kind & caring man who endured hardships, successes and failures & dangers very few if any of us can imagine.

Born Flag Day, June 14th, 1921, in Philadelphia, life was tough. Blue collar neighborhood; High point of the week; Saturdays bath nite; Him before sisters; Big deal; Sisters never let him forget it.

Like others of the time, ard work; No handouts; Gt what you worked for By age 10 the country was in the midst of the Great Depression, so Steve along with his brother & sisters did what they could to help put food on the table.

After the depression life got better & Steve. with wrk easier to find, tried his hand at several things, eventually becoming a Machinist Apprentice.

But the clouds of WWII were on the horizon.

With the suprise attack on Pearl Harbor and the Nazi moves throughout Europe Steve, like millions of others, was torn between prviding for his family and going to war.

In 1943, Steve entered the U.S. Army and volunteered for the then new dangerous Paratroop Infantry Service.

After grauation frm jump school at Fr Bening, GA, he was shipped to England & joined "B" Company, 1st Battalion, 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment of the "Screaming Eagles", 101st Airborne Division as a ight Machine gunner.

On D-Day, Steve along with thousands of other soldiers was held in reserve in rder ro replenish the ranks of those killed, or wounded during the invasion.

Mid-July 45 plans made for Market Garden --- Airborne assault into Holland to seize 80 some miles of the German MSR & key bridges. On Sunday, Sept 17, 55, Steve was one of thousands to make the first daylight airborne combat drop by any army in history. Most were perfect landings.

However, Steve's 1st Battalion of the 501st Pir landed five miles off target. He told me that even though it was a beautiful clear Sunday the first Germans he encountered never saw, or heard his unit coming until they opened fire on a large contingent of Waffen SS troops on bicycles taking a cigarette break. In his first Baptism to fire Steve's machine gun crew killed, or wounded 50, or 60 of the enemy.

The 101st fought the Nazis town-by-town, field-by-field, and house-by-house for 72 days, but on October 5th, after 19 days of fierce day & night combat with the Nazis Steve was seriously wounded and evacuated to the rear.

After a few days of sergery and treatment, Steve went AWOL from the hospital & rejoined his unit and continued the fight until Mid-November 44, when the 101st was pulled back for rest. During those 2 1/2 months Steve said the 501st lost almost 700 men including the 501st Commander who died in the same hospital with Steve while Steve was being treated for his wounds.

Steve told me they had not yet been adequately re-supplied, nor properly re-equipped when the Germans attacked across the frnt with a major force. Within a day Steve was on a truck for a town named Bastogne, a return to the fierce combat and a place in history.

***EXPLANATION OR BASTOGNE

On Belgium / Luxembourg border; Clse proximity to Germany; Hub of intersecting roads and highways; Tactical purpose to stop the oncoming German army. Winter, coldest winter in 100 years.

Steve's "B" Company was part of the first combat team to reach Bastogne and was the first & only 101st division unit on line & ready for action. Steve and the me i his unit were the first to fight at Bastgne when his Battalion advance was met with a blanket of enemy fire near the village of Neffe.

**Historical records reveal that the 501st gave up not one foot of ground and his regiment stopped cold everything the Germans could throw at them.

Steve told me that nothing during the operation Market Gerden, or the weeks if fighting in Holland was anything like he faced in Bastogne.

The Germans fired self-propelled cannons, tank fire, and anti-tank weapons directly at them soetimes from as close as 200 yards. They supported this shelling with relentless Mortar and Rifle Grenade attacks and unrelenting withering Machingun fire.

Steve tld me that during this battle he fired his machinegun until it either ran out of ammo, or malfunctioned then he would move to another whose crew was either killed, or wounded & use it until the same thing hapened again & so on.

Steve fought virtually non-stop as the Germans advanced, were forced to withdraw and then advance again ntil the morning of December 19, when he was severely wounded the second time by an exloding German shell thus his joke about "the Nazis giving hims a Purple eart for a Christmas present".

Steve was carried to a tiny Chapel in a small unheated and heavily damaged local church on the outskirts f Bastogne. He had lost a lot of blood, heavily medicated with Morphine t kill the pain, but with the temperatures below freezing he said death couldn't have been very far away.

Steve recalled later that as he drifted in and out f semi-consciousness on the floor of that chapel, all he remembers is a group of what he thinks were either teenage uniformed school girls or young Nun's laying on, and close around him in what he later figured out was their desperate efforts t try to keep him warm and alive by sharing their body heat with him and the other wounded.

Steve credited these young women with saving him frm a certain death by freezing. His only regret despite his many return trips to Normandy, Holland and Belgium after the war was that he was never able to find any of the girls. or determine who they were.

Steve was medically evacuated from Bastogne on dDecember 27, 44 after Patton's tanks broke through the German lines and relieved the 101st.

Hostpitalized for about two months Steve, partially recovered, returned to duty with his unit. Upon his return to duty he learned that his regiment, the 501st, had lost 600 more men at astogne.

By this time Steve admitted that the war was taking its toll on him and his buddies, but because of their superiour training and the Airborne Espririt de Corps none of the citizen-soldiers of the 501st ever considered asking for a transfer, or sought special favors or considerations to avoid combat.

They continued their fight though Germany and into Bavaria eventually seizing Hitlers private Redoubt, The Eagles Nest.

After the Nazis surrender Steve remained in Germany receiving further medical treatment for his shrapnel wounds.

He returned to the US via troop ship at the end f December 45 in time to celabrate New Years Eve in New York City.

I once asked him why he was only a PFC when he was discharged, & he loked at me, smiled and said making SGT was never a problem, but keeping it sure was.!!

Steve went back to philadelphia after the war, became a Master Machinist in the Tool & Die industry, married, raised children and became active in several WW II Veterans organizations, especially the various Airborne Veterans Associations. He was so very proud to have been a Paratrooper.

He was a charter member & co-founder of the 101st Airborne Division Association of SE PA serving as it's President off and on for over 12 years. He also edited the Associations newsletter "Drop Zone" right up to the time he moved to Florida in 2004.

Deanne & I were lucky enough to spen Memrial Day weekend 2001 with Steve. We visited Fort Bragg, NC the home of the 82nd Airborne Division and HQS, US army Special Operations Command. WHile there he met many of today's Airborne Paratroopers, Rangers and Special Forces Operators and exchanged stories with several of them. They held him in pure awe.

But the high point of his trip was being recognized by the band at a Fayetteville nightclub, popular with Ft. Bragg Tropers, as being the oldest Paratrooper dancing with the prettiest young lady in the place.

Two years later and accompanied by his daughter Debbie, he was our guest in New Orleans for a long weekend of sightseeing, fun & relaxation. I could tell that his health was gradually deteriorating, but he refused to take a cab unless I did. If I was going to walk, so was he, and that was that! The high point f this trip was his visit t the D-Day museum. And, yes we did do a SMALL amount of drinking while he was there.

While we were glad he came for a visit, my body was sure relieved when he went home.

After permanently moving to Florida Steve and I were able to spend more time together and I am deeply grateful for that.

He was friendly to all those that were friendly to him, and as I can attest he had many friends, both old ones from Philadelphia and others here in Florida. Unfortunatly for others whose eyes could only see a quiet, frail, old man, many around him missed the opportunity to meet and get to know not only a real American Hero who was part of the Army that saved the world, but a wonderful person as well.

During his time with the 101st, Steve earned the prestigious Combat Infantrymens Badge; the Paratroop Infantry badge wth a Bronze star device signifying a comat jump and several Expert Weapons Qualification Badges.

So--- Who was Steve Husak?
He was a product ot a leaner, meaner America.

He was born on Flag Day and damned proud of it.

He was a real American Patriot who went to war, fought the toughest fights and shed his blood twice to protect and preserve freedom and our way of life.

He was part of Americas "Greatest Generation".

And as Steve takes his last flight with the patron Saint of all Paratroopers, Saint Michael, as his jumpmaster he will on command "stand-up, hook-up, check his equipment, sound-off for equipment check, shuffle forward, stand-in-the-door and prepare to make his final jump, this time into heaven when Saint Michael slaps him on the but and yells "go" in his ear",

God Bless you Steve Husak and save me a place at the Airborne Bar --- I'll see you again in a few years.