Stephen Andrew Tomichek – CM3C, United States Navy

by

Born at Ashley, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, December 21, 1914, the son of John Andrew and Mary Anastasia Kostks Tomichek, one of eleven children, nine who survived to maturity.

He went to work for White Towers Restraurants in April 1939, where he met his future wife, Ruth Evelyn Brooks (the daughter of Joseph Edward and Annie Jane Pavey Brooks), and where he worked until September 1943. He and Ruth were married in Washington, D.C. on November 2, 1941. They subsequently had two children, Patricia Ann and Virginia Margaret.

During World War II, he served as a Seabee in the United States Navy. He reported on board with the 140th U.S. Naval Construction Battalion. This unit embarked on May 20, 1944 on board the USS Bloemfontein at Port Hueneme, California, for duty outside of the United States. The unit disembarked at Manus Island, Admiralty Island Group, June 18, 1944. On April 18, 1945 he was commended by the Commander of the Seventh Fleet for participation in the construction and maintenance of a critical Naval Base used for the repair and supply of fighting ships of the Fleet with upmost efficiency which contributed materially to the successful operation of Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific Area of Operations during the period of June 1944 to February 1945.

Following the war, he returned to the White Towers Restraurants. He transferred to Syracuse, New York in 1947 and to Buffalo, New York, in 1949. That same year he transferred to the firm’s Baltimore, Maryland, facility where he remained until his death On March 23, 1959. The Baltimore City Life Museum has saved a White Tower that was located on Howard Street in Baltimore and has restored it inside the museum. There are a number of tributes to Tomichek in that area. He was the first White Tower manager to have promoted a female to a supervisory position formerly held only by males and, long before the Civil Rights legislation, helped advance the cause of Black people in the workplace.

Following his death, he was buried with military honors on March 27, 1959 in Section 46 of Arlington National Cemetery, near the Memorial Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

TOMICHEK, STEPHEN ANDREW

  • CM-3 USN
  • VETERAN SERVICE DATES: Unknown
  • DATE OF BIRTH: 12/21/1914
  • DATE OF DEATH: 03/23/1959
  • DATE OF INTERMENT: 03/26/1959
  • BURIED AT: SECTION 46  SITE 909
    ARLINGTON NATIONAL CEMETERY

Read our general and most popular articles

Leave a Comment