Walter Chichersky

Walter "Chick" Chichersky, 83, died on Monday, April 14, 2008, at Gracedale Nursing Center.

He was born December 6, 1924, in Centralia, PA, the son of the late Daniel and Catherine Masynick Chichersky.

Chick grew up in South Bethlehem in the area known as The Heights. He was very proud of his Ukrainian heritage and traveled to Ukraine several times in his later years. He and his twin sisters Julia and Marie performed with a Ukrainian dance group at the 1938 World's Fair in New York. He played the accordion and harmonica and formed a band called the Five Jars of Jam with four of his buddies from The Heights, playing at weddings and parties throughout the area. He sang with the Ukrainian church choir in Bethlehem and later in Florida.

At age 17, Chick enlisted in the U.S. Army Signal Corps at the outbreak of World War II. He served as a combat soldier and then as a photographer for General George S. Patton. Chick was one of only a few soldiers during the war to hold a pass from General Dwight D. Eisenhower allowing him admittance to any restricted area for the purpose of taking photos. He was the first photographer to enter Buchenwald concentration camp in Germany and take photographs, some of which are housed in the National Archives and in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, and he met inmate Elie Wiesel during this assignment. His historic photographs were used as chief evidence to convict high-ranking Nazis at the Nuremberg Trials in Germany.

After the war, he worked at Bethlehem Steel until he moved to Florida, working as an expediter for Jet Avion near Miami where he lived with his wife and son, Daniel.

Chick returned to Bethlehem several years ago and resided with his sister Julia until her death in 2007. He was a member of St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite, Bethlehem.

SURVIVORS:

Son Daniel and his wife Janine and granddaughters Kira and Tatiana all in Florida. Nieces and nephews Frances J. Bankowski and his wife Carol; Michele Horon; Michael J. Horon and his wife Margaret; Katrine Miles and her husband Frederick; Joseph Foldes; Rosemary Frey and her husband Erig, and Catherine Junod and her husband Edward. Great nieces and nephews: Jeremy Miles and his wife Jennifer; Stacey Foldes; Nickolas Miles; Sunset, Zacharia, and Serenity Horon; Martina Junod, and Erig Frey, Jr. Great, great nephew and niece: Kodey Foldes and Emily Ann Miles. And his faithful dog pal, Charlie.

He was preceded in death by his wife Jean Zynski, brother John Chichersky, and sisters Julia Marrero, Marie Mihalakis, Josephine Unangst, and Helen Foldes, and great nephew Frances J. Bankowski IV.

SERVICES:

A visitation will be held on Tuesday April 22, 2008 from 8:00 to 9:15 AM at Connell Funeral Home, Inc., 245 E. Broad St., Bethlehem.

Office of Christian Burial will be held on Tuesday April 22, 2008 at 10AM

in St. Josaphat's Ukrainian Catholic Church of the Byzantine Rite, 1826

Kenmore Ave Bethlehem, PA 18018.

Burial will be at St. Josaphat's Cemetery Wednesday April 23, 2008 at 10AM.

Memorial Contributions may be made to St. Josaphat's; Assumption of BVM Church, N. Paxton St., Centralia, PA 17927; or SPCA of Northampton County, 1165 Island Park Road, Easton, PA 18042.