Pacura family gave its all for war effort

Despite their service, family members didn't talk about World War II.
By WILLIAM K. ALCORN
VINDICATOR STAFF WRITER
POLAND -- George and Agatha Pacurar's family definitely did its part for the nation during World War II.
Four sons, two sons-in-law and a daughter-in-law served in the military during the war. And the Pacurar daughters, Mary and Anne, became "Rosie the Riveters," working in local mills for the war effort.
Unfortunately, as is the fate of some 1,000 to 1,500 World War II veterans a day, all but Mary, whose married name is Duecaster, and her younger brother, Victor Pacura of New Middletown, have died.
One son, Dan Pacura (all of the sons dropped the "r" from their names when they entered the service), died from injuries suffered while serving in the Army Signal Corps in India, where he is buried. When he died, his brother John J. Pacura, an Army Air Forces pilot, flew his plane over his brother's grave and dipped his wings in tribute.
Dan, who achieved the rank of sergeant in the Army, was a graduate of Hubbard High School.
"We missed Dan terribly," Duecaster said.
Dan's wife, Pearl, was a sergeant in the Women's Army Corps during the war.
Other siblings
John, a graduate of Scienceville High School, retired from the Air Force in 1968 as a lieutenant colonel after 27 years of military service and 8,000 hours of flying time. He entered the Army Air Forces in 1940 and flew some 200 combat missions in the China-Burma-India Theater. He received both the Air Force Distinguished Flying Cross and the British Distinguished Flying Cross. John, who died in 2004, was recalled to active duty during the Korean War, where he flew combat missions, and the Vietnam War, where he was an adviser to the Vietnamese Air Force and flew combat missions.
Another Pacurar son, George (known as Joe), a Hubbard High School graduate, was a sergeant in the Army. He was hospitalized in France with injuries suffered in the war. He died in 1987.
The fourth Pacurar son who served in the military, Nick, was with the Navy in the South Pacific. He was a graduate of Poland Seminary High School and died just last month.
The fifth son, Victor, was too young to be in the military during World War II, and stayed home and helped work the family farm on Cowden Road.
Duecaster's sister, Anne, a graduate of Hubbard High School, was married to John Toda, who served with the Army in the European Theaterduring the war. He died in 1969. Anne is deceased.
Deucaster's husband, Robert G., who died in 2003, served with the Army in Europe. He drove a tank onto the beaches at Normandy on D-Day but was lucky and did not get hurt. But, she said he spent nearly three years overseas without a visit home.
During the war, sisters Mary and Anne donned steel-toed boots, goggles, gloves and helmets to help the war effort.
Anne worked at a mill in Hubbard and at the Republic Rubber Co. Mary worked at Truscon Steel Co., welding tank parts, and then got office jobs at Youngstown Sheet & amp; Tube Co. and the Lordstown Ordnance Depot.
"In our spare time, we read and listened to the radio and wrote a lot of letters. It wasn't fun, but there was a war on, and our men were gone. We had to do the job," Duecaster said.
However, even with so many family members serving in the military during World War II, there was never any talk about the war.
"After the war, everybody came back and went about their lives working and raising families. We'd have family gatherings at Thanksgiving and Christmas. But, even then, no one talked about the war," Duecaster said.
"I'm sure they were saddened by the war. I think they just wanted to forget it," she said.
Duecaster said her husband wouldn't even take a cruise, saying that he had enough of boats coming and going during the war.
Personal details
Duecaster, a 1939 graduate of Scienceville High School, was dating her future husband when he was drafted in 1940. She rode the Greyhound bus from Youngstown to Camp Blanding, Fla., in 1942 to marry him. She became pregnant and returned home a few months later. But the baby, who weighed 9 pounds at his birth Dec. 16, 1943, lived only 15 minutes.
The Duecasters' second son, Robert L., was also born Dec. 16 (1950) and weighed 9 pounds.
"Can you believe that?" Duecaster asked.
Robert L. lives in Manassas, Va., and works at the Pentagon. Duecaster's daughter, Dinah-Maria Hopper, is a dental hygienist in Danielle, Ky.
After the war, Duecaster's husband worked at CCC Trucking Co.
After graduating from the New Castle School of Trades, he formed his own company, Veteran Construction, for which his wife kept the books. Her husband built the home she still lives in today on Woodland Road in Poland Township. He also worked at Wean United.
After he retired, they made baskets and tassel wreaths and sold them at flea markets. And in the 1950s, Duecaster, now 84, became a fashion model and got a spread in The Vindicator's Rotogravure section on March 9, 1975.
She said she was just following the advice that her father instilled in her as a child: "No vork, no eat."
"I'm very proud of my family," Duecaster said.
alcorn@vindy.com