Correspondent photo / Sean Barron John Janosik of Youngstown, a World War II Army veteran, is joined by three generations of family, who were among about 20 relatives who attended his 100th birthday party on Sunday at his home on the city’s West Side. From left are his niece, Susan Cook of Charlotte, N.C.; and Hunter Lowe, 11, his mother, Ashley Lowe, and brother, Sawyer Lowe, 4, all of Denver, N.C. His actual birthday is Tuesday.

YOUNGSTOWN — Whether serving in a clandestine fashion during World War II, being a teacher and mentor to high school and college students, or being a central and loving force in the lives of family, communication has always been at the epicenter of John Janosik’s life.

“He’s been like a second father to me. He’s definitely held the family together,” Susan Cook of Charlotte, N.C., the oldest of his nieces, said about her uncle.

Cook and about 20 other members of the extended family consisting of four generations that Janosik has held together were at his home Sunday to celebrate his 100th birthday, which is Tuesday.

Janosik, a 1942 Chaney High School graduate who served four years in the U.S. Army during and shortly after World War II, also was recognized and honored for his service to the nation.

During his time in the Armed Forces from 1943 to 1947, Janosik was part of the 132nd Signal Company of the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division. Specifically, he was known as a signalman (a communications specialist) whose primary duty was to send important messages and pieces of information to the Army’s appropriate chains of command.

He often relied on a device called a SIGABA, an electromechanical, rotor-based cipher machine developed in the late 1930s that looks similar to a bulky standard typewriter. Its primary purpose was to ensure high-level communications were secure, and because of its reliability and sophistication, the newly formed NATO continued to use the SIGABA into the 1950s.

Toward the end of the war, Janosik’s travels with the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division began when it landed Dec. 9, 1944, in the port city of Marseille, France, then advanced through that country, Germany and Austria. On April 29, 1945, the 42nd Infantry was one of three Army divisions to liberate the Dachau concentration camp in southern Germany, which had opened in March 1933 and was where the soldiers discovered more than 30,000 prisoners, according to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Afterward, Janosik was granted a 30-day leave to visit family in Slovakia, then he flew home from Austria before enrolling at Youngstown College (now Youngstown State University) to study and earn a degree in business education. Simultaneously, he was working as a bookkeeper for the former Steelton Bakery on the West Side.

The importance of communication certainly didn’t stop with his discharge. Janosik earned a master’s degree in business education from the University of Pittsburgh and taught business education, typing, shorthand and other related classes at Liberty High School before retiring in 1988. He also taught business-related courses at YSU and spent much of his time regularly caring for his mother, Susan Koval, before she died in 1994.

In addition, Janosik served about 35 years as secretary for the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division organization. A main part of his duties included planning and organizing reunions throughout the country, along with being treasurer of its scholarship committee in which scholarship recipients were members’ children and grandchildren.

His travels included the many reunion sites as well as seven trips to Czechoslovakia.

Nowadays, Janosik, who also served as choir director and was sacrosanct with Holy Name Church, is more than happy to open his door — and heart — to numerous relatives and friends, particularly on Sundays and holidays. To that end, his home has become a regular gathering place for them and others.

“He has been the patriarch for our family for a long time,” Jim Kramer of Boardman said, adding that two of his uncle’s top priorities are family and church.

In addition, Janosik is jovial, deeply religious and “always in a good mood,” Kramer continued.

Also during Sunday’s family-oriented festivities, Janosik was the subject of several proclamations, recognitions and mementos.

Nate Kramer of North Jackson, Janosik’s great-nephew who serves with the 910th Security Forces at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station in Vienna, read aloud congratulatory letters to Janosik from President Joe Biden, Gov. Mike DeWine and a commanding general in Troy, N.Y., where the 42nd Rainbow Infantry Division is under the U.S. Army National Guard.

Corban Baker, outreach coordinator with the Mahoning County Veterans Service Commission, presented Janosik with a proclamation from Youngstown Mayor Jamael Tito Brown and Mahoning County Commissioners David C. Ditzler, Carol Rimedio-Righetti and Anthony T. Traficanti, along with an American flag in a small box.

“It’s an honor to see him do well,” Baker said.

Also grateful to see the longtime veteran do well is his niece, Laurie Kramer of Youngstown, who predicted Janosik’s example will carry on.

“He’ll live on in each one of us,” she added.

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