WWII vet’s birthday celebrated in McDonald
Courtesy of James Frazier
American Legion and VFW members from Washington County salute World War II veteran Carl Walpusk, who turned 96 years old Saturday.
World War II veteran Carl Walpusk is honored by McDonald Borough community members Saturday on his 96th birthday.
Courtesy of James Frazier
Courtesy of James Frazier
McDonald firefighters honor World War II veteran Carl Walpusk on his 96th birthday Saturday.
The McDonald community made sure a World War II veteran could celebrate turning 96 years old Saturday despite social-distancing measures he was observing to protect his health.
The town’s volunteer fire department sent trucks to drive by in a salute to former U.S. Army airman Carl Walpusk, who lives in Moon Township, but is staying with family members in the Washington County borough while he recuperates from a recent hospitalization.
“They had their big stuff out, their ladder truck and then a tanker,” said James Frazier, husband to Walpusks’s daughter, Sherry Frazier.
James Frazier, a former borough councilman and mayor, said he was surprised when about 20 members of the local American Legion and VFW showed up.
“This took place in my driveway,” he said. “Carl sat in the entrance to the garage. All of the veterans from the community stayed on the street.”
Frazier said his father-in-law uses two hearing aids and would have had difficulty speaking on the phone for an interview with a reporter.
As part of the 15th Air Corps, Walpusk was part of the strategic bombing campaign against the Romanian oil fields the Nazis relied on during the summer of 1944. During one mission early that July, he parachuted from his B-24 heavy bomber into Axis-occupied territory in the Balkans.
The young airman became part of a group of the Forgotten 500 – a group of stranded American flyers who, with the help of Serbian nationalist guerrillas and local civilians, managed to hide from Axis forces until they were surreptitiously airlifted out of what was then Yugoslavia.
Walpusk was among the former airmen who were featured in a 2007 book about the rescue mission.
“He entered the military as a private,” Frazier said. “And when he retired, he retired as a colonel.”
These days, Walpush has been staying with his daughter and son-in-law following a recent stint in Sewickley Valley Hospital for dehydration and an infection, but is recovering his strength with the help of a physical therapist.
Frazier said the family had concerns about Walpusk’s going to a nursing home during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Walpusk was surprised by his party, his son-in-law said.
“It would appear that the community appreciates the opportunity to recognize that kind of sacrifice,” he said.