George Bochanski, a retired shipyard supervisor

BACK IN 1944, George V. Bochanski took a sad train ride through Philadelphia on his way to New York to be shipped overseas to fight in World War II.

George wasn't sad about going to war. He was sad because the train rolled behind a Westinghouse plant where his then-girlfriend was working.

"He said it was one of his saddest days," said his son George Jr. "He knew she was in there working, and he couldn't tell her where he was going."

It all worked out happily, however, because when George got back from the war, he married the girl, Irene M. McLaughlin, and they had 56 years of wedded bliss.

George Bochanski, a 35-year worker and supervisor for the Philadelphia Naval Shipyard, a wounded Army combat veteran and a devoted family man, died of complications of cancer Feb. 25. He was 91 and was living in Secane, Delaware County.

George fought in France and Germany, and like many World War II veterans, didn't talk much about his experiences. He was wounded twice in the right leg, once by shrapnel and once by a machine gun. He received the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster because of his wounds, and a Bronze Star for valor.

Once in a frozen forest in France, his unit was ordered to dig in. But the ground was too hard, so the Americans used holes dug by German soldiers before them. This, however, let the German artillery know where they were, he told his son.

Being a big man, he got to carry the BAR, the heavy machine gun, into combat. He didn't mind, he told his son, because it relieved him of having to carry anything else. He attained the rank of sergeant.

George was born in Philadelphia to Joseph and Helen Bochanski. He attended the Comey Institute of Industrial Relations, at St. Joseph's University.

He went to work for the Naval Shipyard and had a deferment through part of the war. He eventually was drafted.

He started at the shipyard as a rigger and worked his way up to group superintendent. He retired in 1985.

But George wasn't the kind of guy to sit around doing nothing. "He was happy when he was doing something," his son said. He built a second floor on a house he and his wife bought in North Wildwood, installed a powder room for his son, and otherwise found constructive work for his skillful hands.

He enjoyed crabbing at the Jersey Shore, and when he did he wore a cap bearing his Purple Heart medal.

"He said it was his lucky hat," his son said, "but that was the only time he wore it."

George was a devout Catholic and, until several weeks ago, rode a stationary bicycle while reciting the Rosary. He was a 60-year member of Holy Spirit Church in Sharon Hill.

After his marriage in 1946, George and his wife lived in Queen Village, in Philadelphia. They later moved to Sharon Hill, and after her death in 2003, he moved to Secane.

Besides his son, he is survived by a daughter, Irene M. Hart; four other sons, Francis X., John, Theodore and Joseph; 25 grandchildren, and 23 great-grandchildren.

Services: Funeral Mass 10:30 a.m. Tuesday at Holy Spirit Church, Sharon Avenue and School Street, Sharon Hill. Friends may call at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Holy Cross Cemetery, Yeadon.

Contributions may be made to the Holy Spirit Memorial Fund, 1028 School St., Sharon Hill PA 19079.