Article published Sunday, September 6, 2009 MARY R. KORCSOG, 1920-2009 West Toledo homemaker served in WACs in WWII
Mary R. Korcsog, 89, whose postwar career as mother and homemaker belied her World War II experiences as a Women's Army Corps sergeant in the South Pacific, died Friday from complications of a stroke.
She and her husband, Alexander "Corky" Korcsog, settled in West Toledo, where they raised their family.
She was gentle but firm, and "made the best Hungarian pigs in a blanket," her son-in-law Mark Schmollinger said.
In December, 1942, less than a month before she turned 23, she joined what was then the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps, a part of the Army as the Women's Army Corps.
After the marches and drills of basic training, her superiors noted that she was a leader, that "the way she related to people, she was someone you wanted to do the job for," her son-in-law said. She was promoted and became Sgt. Mary Vaison.
Her unit went to the South Pacific, where it set up mess tents and communications centers, which allowed GIs to concentrate on combat roles.
In the tropical heat, the threat of malaria always buzzed near. She had assignments in Australia and New Guinea. After U.S. forces returned to the Philippines, she was on Corregidor, site of a landmark battle at the start of the war. In Manila, she and her unit cleaned up university buildings the Japanese military had used as an interrogation and torture center.
"She was an ordinary woman who saw and did some extraordinary things," her son-in-law said. He added that when he first met her in 1982, "I would never have suspected that was her history."
She called the WACs in her command "her girls, and she enjoyed relating all her adventures," he said. Her daughter Sandy Schmollinger said, "She always called the Army 'family.' That was her first family; we were her second. She said that was the best time of her life, being in the service."
She was born Jan. 12, 1920, the daughter of Romanian immigrants, and grew up in the Birmingham neighborhood of East Toledo. After the eighth grade, she worked in farm fields and did household chores for hire to help support the family, her daughter said.
"She was a very strong lady and had a great faith in God," her daughter Sandy said. "She was a great role model."
After the war, she attended Davis College.
She was a member of the Conn-Weissenberger American Legion Post and St. Clement Church.
She and her husband married Oct. 21, 1950. He died Aug. 26, 1996.
Surviving are her daughters, Sandy Schmollinger and Becky Middaugh; sons, Daniel Korcsog and Ron Korsog, and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
Services will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday in the H.H. Birkenkamp Funeral Home, Trilby Chapel, where the body will be after 2 p.m. Tuesday.
The family suggests tributes to Honor Flight of Northwest Ohio. Permanent Link
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