Army mechanic recalls service during Cold War
The Inter-Mountain photo by Beth Henry-Vance John Vallelonga, who has lived in Elkins since the early 1970s, says serving in the U.S. Army as a young man gave him the experience he needed to move ahead in life.
Submitted photo John Vallelonga is shown here when he was an Army mechanic in the 1950s.
The Inter-Mountain photo by Beth Henry-Vance John Vallelonga, who has lived in Elkins since the early 1970s, says serving in the U.S. Army as a young man gave him the experience he needed to move ahead in life.
Submitted photo John Vallelonga is shown here when he was an Army mechanic in the 1950s.
Trending
Editor's note: This is the 11th article in The Inter-Mountain's Unsung Heroes series, which will feature veterans in our area and share first-hand accounts of their military service. The series will publish each Monday through Veterans Day. To suggest an Unsung Hero, call 304-636-2121, ext. 120.
ELKINS -- As a mechanic who served during the Cold War, a local veteran has fond memories of the time he spent in the U.S. Army.
John Vallelonga, who has lived in Elkins since the early 1970s, said the Army gave him the experience he needed to move ahead in life.
After graduating from St. Mary's High School in Clarksburg in 1953, Vallelonga joined the U.S. Army Reserve. He also was looking for full-time work during a rough economy.
"It was a bad time," he said. "You couldn't get a job. … I decided to just join the Army."
The next week, at age 19, he was on a train headed to Fort Knox, Kentucky. Since he had experience in the Reserves, he was ranked as a private 1st class.
"I had rank over the other guys, so they put me as platoon guide," Vallelonga said, recalling how much he learned in training over the next several weeks before being shipped over to Europe.
"I had my 20th birthday in the middle of the Atlantic," he recalled of the six-day trip across the ocean on board the USNS General Maurice Rose. "It was a real adventure. … Rough seas -- I didn't get seasick though."
Vallelonga said his goal when entering the Army was to attend college thanks to the GI Bill -- and he also wanted to visit Germany, to see his paternal grandmother. He didn't know where his orders would take him, however, and he thought he would be sent to Korea or England instead.
He said he remembers the orders for Germany being read alphabetically, and he waited and hoped to hear his name.
"They passed up V," he said, and moved on to reading another list of orders for another country. Vallelonga said he was extremely disappointed, until at the very end, his name was called out and sure enough, he was heading to Germany.
Vallelonga served with the 541st Engineer Company (Float Bridge) for the U.S. Army in Europe, and primarily was stationed at a base in Heidelberg during the Cold War, when Germany was still divided into East and West.
"We were constantly on alert because of the political situation," he said.
Vallelonga and his fellow soldiers worked on a wide range of vehicles, including Jeeps and large trucks, as well as a 10-ton crane.
"One of my charges was to keep those trucks running, and basically that was about it," he said, adding he enjoyed the work and became close with his fellow soldiers.
He also enjoyed traveling while he was in the military, getting to visit or work in Switzerland, Austria, Italy, England and France, in addition to Germany.
He spent 19 months overseas, and said the highlight was visiting his grandmother as well as sightseeing in Europe.
"That's one of the best moves I ever made, in that it got me moving," he said of his military experience.
After finishing his service, he studied forestry at West Virginia University, admitting it was a big adjustment to go from the military back into civilian life.
Vallelonga was the fifth of eight children who belonged to the late Cosimo and Mary Vallelonga, and he grew up in Anmoore.
He said his wife, Mary, was born and raised in the Frankford area. He met her June 30, 1960, while he was attending a forestry camp in Greenbrier County near Blue Bend.
Vallelonga said he and a friend were walking toward the swimming area at Blue Bend, and they spotted two young women sunbathing on the beach area across the creek. One was wearing a red bathing suit, and one was in a pink bathing suit, and he can remember he and his friend jumping in the water to swim across and talk to them.
"That's how we met, and I've never looked at another girl since," he said, adding Mary was wearing the pink swimsuit.
They got married March 12, 1962, and the couple lived in West Union, Buckhannon and Romney before moving to the Elkins area for Vallelonga's work in the paper mill industry.
Their first child died at birth, but they have two surviving children. Their son Steven is a Catholic priest in Parkersburg, and their daughter Pamela Mays, who went to forestry school, lives in Huntington. She and her husband, Robert, have four children.
Vallelonga said he is a life member of Veterans of Foreign Wars and the Disabled American Veterans, as well as a 36-year member of the American Legion. He was very active in fundraising and planning efforts to build the All Veterans Memorial in Elkins in the early 1990s. He also is active in the Lions Club.