John J. Filipovich
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
John J. Filipovich was inducted into the Army on Dec. 12, 1942.
He served as a Private with a Headquarters Company of the Coast Artillery Battery at Fort Rosecrans, Calif., He was assigned with repairing ordnance vehicles.
In September, he was transferred to Camp Houze, Tex. He was chosen to address the battalion on the progress of the war. He shipped to Scotland aboard the Queen Elizabeth and moved by railroad to southern England, and ferried to LeHavre, France.
He was later assigned to the 393rd Special Service Engineers as clerk and guard at a prisoner of war camp.
In July 1945 he camped at Marseilles and waited expecting to be shiped to the Pacific Theater.
He recalls that "On the evening of August 8th or 9th all hell broke loose in the camp, in learning that the nuclear bomb ended the war with Japan and instead shipment to Boston on a liberty ship."
He was honorably discharged on Feb. 28, 1946 at Seattle, Wash.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The St. Louis County World War II Project. 79.
