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| Lt. Joseph Tomayko fought with the 309th Infantry Regiment in defending the Ludendorff Bridge at Remagen. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59523201/joseph-e.-tomayko https://www.facebook.com/pg/309thInfantryRegiment/photos/?ref=page_internal |
Joseph E. Tomayko never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 13, 1918 in Pennsylvania. His parents Joseph and Mary were both born in Hungary and came to America in 1900 and 1903, respectively. His father worked as a glass plant janitor. Joseph had six older sisters and three younger sisters. By 1940 Joseph had completed four years of high school and was working as a checker.
He enlisted in the army on July 2, 1941.
He married Lois Jayne Harker on June 20, 1942. They had two daughters.
He became a first lieutenant in Company M, 309th Infantry Regiment, 78th Infantry Division.
On March 7, 1945 elements of the 9th Armored Division managed to capture the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine intact at Remagen. It was the first Allied unit to cross the Rhine. To keep the bridge from falling back into enemy hands or destroyed, the Americans expanded the bridgehead including the 78th Infantry Division.
In late March or early April his family received word that Lt. Tomayko was missing in action. Some time passed before his true fate was known. He had been hit by a big piece of shrapnel on March 14. He died that day while showing a picture of this wife and children to one of his men. In the confusion his body was picked up by a different army division so he became Missing in Action until is was cleared up some time later.
His grave is at St. Mary's Cemetery in Lower Burrell, Pennsylvania. I don't know what happened to his wife and children.
Last year on this date I profiled Johnny Culak, 90th Infantry Division. You can read about Johnny here.
On behalf of the fallen, if you would like to see more people become aware of this project to honor the WW2 fallen, be sure to share with others on Twitter, Facebook, etc. Thanks for your interest!
I created this video to explain why I started this project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXt8QA481lY.
Please consider joining the public Facebook group to increase the exposure of this project. Go to: WW2 Fallen 100
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