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| Lt. Stanley Rykala earned multiple medals serving in the 26th Field Artillery Battalion. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15707362/stanley-joseph-rykala https://9thinfantrydivision.net/26th-field-artillery-battalion/ |
Stanley Joseph Rykala never had a chance to reach 100 years old today. Instead, he sacrificed his life for our freedom.
He was born on November 4, 1919 in East Lake Michigan. His parents John and Kathryn were also both born in Michigan. All of his grandparents were from what became Poland. His father worked as a postmaster and his mother was a grocery store saleswoman. His father died in 1936. Stanley had one older brother and one younger sister.
He enlisted in the army in April 1942 and became a first lieutenant in the 26th Field Artillery Battalion which was attached to the 9th Infantry Division. It was equipped with 105mm howitzers. The 9th ID was one of the first American units to fight the Germans. First in North Africa, then in Sicily, and then in Normandy. I don't know when Lt. Rykala joined his unit, but he was active by the fall of 1944.
He earned the Silver Star, Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts.
The following was written by Julie Witowski for findagrave.com:
He attended Officers Candidate School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, receiving his commission as a second lieutenant there. He was recently promoted to a first lieutenant after participating in three major battles in the European theatre of war. Stanley was wounded several times in action: On October 14, 1944 in the Hurtzen Forest area and again in December during the Nazi break-through, on the Western front.
Lt. Rykala was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and First Oak Leaf Cluster to the Purple Heart. "It was for his gallant action while on duty at a forward observation post in the vicinity of Eisenborn, Belgium, Dec. 28, 1944, that Lt. Rykala was awarded the Silver Star, posthumously."
"The Lieutenant learned that the artillery liaison officer at the battalion command post was killed under an intense enemy artillery barrage. With complete disregard for personal safety, he immediately exposed himself to the heavy enemy fire to travel two miles over the open terrain to the command post. Assuming the duties of liaison officer, he remained at his post despite the fact that enemy artillery scored several direct hits on his building.
Although wounded by shrapnel when he left the shelter of the building to go to his radio, he continued to direct effective and accurate artillery fire on the enemy forces until a strong enemy counter-attack had been repulsed."
Lt. Rykala was awarded the Silver Star, Bronze Star, and First Oak Leaf Cluster to the Purple Heart. "It was for his gallant action while on duty at a forward observation post in the vicinity of Eisenborn, Belgium, Dec. 28, 1944, that Lt. Rykala was awarded the Silver Star, posthumously."
"The Lieutenant learned that the artillery liaison officer at the battalion command post was killed under an intense enemy artillery barrage. With complete disregard for personal safety, he immediately exposed himself to the heavy enemy fire to travel two miles over the open terrain to the command post. Assuming the duties of liaison officer, he remained at his post despite the fact that enemy artillery scored several direct hits on his building.
Although wounded by shrapnel when he left the shelter of the building to go to his radio, he continued to direct effective and accurate artillery fire on the enemy forces until a strong enemy counter-attack had been repulsed."
Lt. Rykala died on February 5, 1945, perhaps from the wounds sustained on December 28.
His grave is at Oak Grove Cemetery in Manistee, Michigan.
MARTIN BALSAM
Another baby born on the exact same day as Stanley Rykala was Martin Balsam, who went on to became a popular character actor. Martin was born in the Bronx, New York. He was already interested in drama in high school.
Martin volunteered for the Army Air Forces and became a B-24 Liberator radio operator assigned to the China-Burma-India theater.
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| http://www.kearsargeassociation.com/ToraToraTora.html |
Last year on this date I profiled Stanley Romanowski, 32nd Infantry Division. You can read about Stanley 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.
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