Draft Record
shows John
employed by the Berwind Coal Company, Mine #40, Scalp Level (Cambria),
PA. According to local lore, the town site was so named after a
local property owner ordered his farmhands to "scalp them bushes level". Berwind was a large
privately held corporation historically involved in the coal
industry. Today it is a diversified company involved in property leasing
and ownership of unrelated businesses. The company was one of the
largest producers of coal at the turn of the twentieth century and
created several towns in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, including
Windber, Pennsylvania and Berwind, West Virginia.
Today, the site of Mine 40's
Tipple has been abandoned and is becoming overgrown.
Pennsylvania WWII Veterans bonus application filed by John Hazy on 28
January 1950. |
[courtesy of B. Felix]
Grave marker for John D. Hazy in Saint John Cantius
Catholic Church Cemetery, Windber (Somerset county), Pennsylvania.
John enlisted in the Army at Altoona, PA on 12 June 1942.
T/4 Hazy was initially listed as missing in action in
Normandy on 6 June 1944 but his status was changed to seriously
wounded in action as of 6 June 44.
On 27 September 1944, still recovering in an unnamed
hospital, John was removed from the 508th's rolls and transferred to the
hospital's detachment of patients.
T/4 Hazy retuned to the U.S. for further treatment on 17
October 1944 and was subsequently discharged at Woodrow Wilson General
Hospital, Staunton, VA on 22 December 1944.
Returning home, he married Helen Agnes Bednar [1920 -
2010] in Windber, PA on 12 May 1945.
His military decorations include the Purple Heart, Combat
Infantryman Badge and Bronze Service Arrowhead device which was awarded
for participation in Normandy assault. |