Mark Amil Sertich
Era: World War II
Military Branch: Army
SERTICH, Mark Amil
Mark Amil Sertich was born on July 18th 1921 to Marco & Josephine Margaret [Musich] Sertich in Ashland Wisconsin. They moved to Duluth, Minnesota when Mark was at a young age.
Mr. Sertich entered the U.S. Army on November 14th 1942, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota. Home at entry: Duluth, Minnesota.
He served as a high speed radio operator with 11th Armored Division, 3rd Army in Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe. He rose to the rank of Technician 4th Grade.
TEC4 Sertich attended basic training at Fort Benning, Georgia, with the 10th Armored Division and later transferred to Camp Cooke, California, as a radio operator. Spent several months at Camp Cooke before leaving for Fort Dix and embarked on an English troop ship for shipment to England.
Arrived England on October 12th 1944, and stationed near Bath. The 11th Armored Division was part of General Patton's Third Army which helped relieve the encirclement of Bastogne, Belgium.
The winter of 1944 was one of the coldest on record for that region. The 11th Armored Division took part in three battles: Ardennes, Rhineland, and Central Europe for which the division was awarded three battle stars.
During this time, the Division broke through the Siegfied Line in February 1945, and ended in Linz, Austria, on the Danube River. The 11th Armored Division was the first division of the Third Army to meet the Russian Armies coming from the East.
The German troops, squeezed in between the U.S. and Russia, wanted to surrender to the Americans because of their fear of what the Russians would do to them, but the U.S. let them fall into the hands of the Russians.
The 11th Armored Division took part in the seizure of the Mauthausen concentration camp which was located just outside of Linz, Austria.
"It was a scene that this soldier or any soldier will ever forget: the stench of dead bodies piled like cordwood, the gas chambers that were designed to look like showers, the ovens where the dead were cremated, and the suffering of those that were barely alive."
During this time around Linz and Gmunden, just across the Danube River from Linz, he was wounded by either friendly fire or otherwise. Later the 11th Armored Division was disbanded and the lucky ones with 75 points or more were sent to units headed for the U.S. Others with less than that amount were supposedly headed for the Asian area. Lucky to have had enough points to be headed for U.S. arriving 28 days later on a liberty ship that brought us home.
Mr. Sertich earned the following merits for his service:
- Good Conduct Medal,
- American Theater Service Medal,
- European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal,
- Army Meritorious Unit Commendation, -and-
- two overseas service bars.
He was honorably discharged November 17th 1945, at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin. After the war he returned home and married Virginia Geraldine [Fritz] and started a family.
Mr. Sertich died on August 30th 2020 at the age of 99 years young, playing hockey right up until his last days. He is buried at Oneota Cemetery in Duluth, Minnesota.
See links below.
Source: Hometown Heroes: The Saint Louis County World War II Project, 366.
Mark not only was a hero on the battlefield serving his country but also was a hero of the community as a hockey player and ambassador of the sport. He was inducted into the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame notably as being the oldest hockey player in the world at that time 97 years old.
Albert J. Amatuzio Research Center | Veterans Memorial Hall (vets-hall.org)
Mark Amil Sertich (1921-2020) - Find a Grave Memorial
U.S., Cemetery and Funeral Home Collection, 1847-Current - Ancestry.com
https://www.startribune.com/still-playing-hockey-at-97-years-old/510041381/
World's oldest hockey player remembered as valiant Minnesota legend (nhl.com)
