My grandfather, Joseph Michalczyk, was born on October 23, 1925, in Philadelphia, PA.

Philadelphia 

    Hospital

He grew up with his parents who had immigrated from the Ukraine. They spoke mostly Ukrainian and limited English.

At a young age, Joseph discovered his passion for art. Having limited supplies, he started out by creating sketches with a pencil.

Every sketch or doodle he created had a different skill associated with it. Some focused on different perspectives while others practiced the ability to shade and create shadow.

As Joseph grew older, he became very involved with his school. He went to Dobbins Vocational School of Philadelphia. He became president and valedictorian of his class proving himself to be very intelligent and outgoing.

Coming out of high school, Joseph knew that he wanted to be an artist. He wanted to live his life combining colors like red, yellow, and blue to make each individual art piece truly amazing.

All of his dreams were ahead of him until one day he received some unsettling news. This news would be a big setback to his art career or end it before it even started.

It was 1943 and the second World War had been going on for four years now. The U.S. only being involved in it for just under two years. It was time to draft more recruits.

Having just turned 18, Joseph was chosen as a draftee to help with war efforts in Europe. Joseph knew that he would have to put his dream of becoming an artist on hold to serve in his nation’s military.

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While in the army, Joseph was transported to many barracks across Europe. His role in the army was to design and build bridges as part of the army’s main engineering corps.

To keep his artistic ability sharp, he frequently found himself drawing pictures of soldiers he served with or pictures of their families. This hobby was Joseph’s sunshine because of how it made him and his fellow soldier’s happy.

During his first year of serving, Joseph experienced a really unique moment that would shape a friendship that would last for decades to come.

One day, while he was resting in his barrack, he saw a man washing his face in his own helmet. When the man finished and turned around, Joseph recognized him instantly!

“Albert!”, he hollered with rejoice. Albert looked up and recognized Joseph as well. Joseph and Albert were good friends in high school and would often hang out with one another to both practice their passion for drawing.

The two were baffled at how they were reunited with each other while in deployment. At that moment, both had hope that they would never be split apart again.

As the rest of their military experience went on, both were recognized for their artistic ability and were assigned to additional roles that used these skills. One of these included doing commercial art. This role consisted of drawing pictures that helped explain directions. This could have consisted of drawing a hand using a syringe to demonstrate how to properly give a shot.

By the end of 1945, the war was ending and both Joseph and Albert were transported back to their home city of Philadelphia. They were both happy to go back to see their families, but also missed each other's presence. 

Three years after his arrival from the war, Joseph went to a dance at his local church for one of their occasions. It wasn’t until after that night, Joseph realized that he had met the love of his life and his future wife. Her name was Vera.