John Mozolak, Jr.

John Mozolak, Jr., age 90, died on Friday, April 20, at Jersey Shore Medical Center. Born in Manhattan to Slovak immigrants, he enlisted the U.S. Army at age 18. He became an army cook in Hawaii, was later recruited into the Signal Corps for service in Japan, Korea, and Germany, and then was assigned to duty at Ft. Monmouth, where he retired as Sergeant First Class at age 38. He lived in Eatontown for more than fifty years. In 1993, John became a bus driver for Monmouth Regional High School and worked for more than a decade at a job he thoroughly enjoyed, especially driving teams to sport contests. Often gruff with adults, he related well to his young passengers. Years after retiring from driving the school bus, he would be fondly recognized on the street by former students. People are often best described by close friends who have known them from all sides. One longtime friend wrote: "John was unique; whether he was an Army cook or an intelligence officer in West Germany during the cold war. He enjoyed what he was doing and did it well. . . . He retired after 20 years of military service: served in Korea during the Korean War and in Japan as a Depot Foreman overhauling electronic equipment and training Japanese civilians. During the Cold War with Russia in the 1960s, he was an intelligence officer interviewing refugees, analyzing data and Communist military equipment. In retirement, he worked for Electronic Associates, a local contractor who overhauled Military electronic equipment. His last place of employment was as a bus driver for Monmouth Regional High School. Another task he did well and enjoyed doing." John Mozolaks obituary would not be complete without acknowledging his deep interest in various pursuits and hobbies. As a young man, he began what would become a respectable stamp collection. In the late 1930s and early 1940s, he delighted in spotting airplanes and recording ship movements on the East River, recording 5,000 ships sailing from New York harbor from 1939 to 1945. His information is on the website, www.janda.org/ships. Both during and long after his army career, John maintained his interest in ships and airplanes with many bookcases full of books and magazines on planes and naval vessels. His greatest passion was building model planes to exact historical specifications. He had hundreds of completed models in his collection and hundreds more waiting to be built. Although John never went to college, he developed strong, if eccentric, interests in biology, geography, and history, especially of foreign lands and cultures. Books on ancient Greece, 18th century Europe, insects, languages, and so on filled other bookcases. John learned to speak Japanese, some Korean, and some German, in addition to Slovak, his first language. John also served as the family genealogist. During a 1971 trip with his parents to their home village, Krajn, in Slovakia, John saw that his grandfather, Samuel Mozolk, who was missing in action in World War I, was not among the 75 names on the Krajn monument honoring the fallen. From the Vienna war archives, John obtained proof that Samuel was not a deserter but was decorated for bravery while fighting in Romania in 1917. With this proof, John had Samuel Mozolk added as the 76th name to the monument in 2006. John is survived by his sister, Ann Janda, and by nieces Susan Janda (David Milne) and Katy Janda, and grand-nephews Leo and Ben. John was cremated, and his ashes will be placed in the Brigadier William C. Doyle Veterans Memorial Cemetery sometime in May. Services are entrusted to Jersey Shore Cremation Service, 36 Broad Street, Manasquan, NJ.