The Biography of JACK BEDNARCIK
I was born May 29th 1964 in Saint Mary's Hospital in Galesburg, Illinois at 5:28am. I was delivered by Dr.
Coen, and I am the son of E. George Bednarcik and Shirley Jo (Wilkins) Bednarcik (Seen here with her brother Jim and sister Marg). I have a sister Barb (Seen here with Roommate Kay) who was born Sep 29, 1962 and a brother George born Oct 23, 1965. (Guess Mom & Dad were kinda busy for those 3 years huh?? LOVE YA'S!!!)
My first home was at my Grandma Pauline "Polly" Bednarcik's house at 652 W. Grove St. We then moved to 835 Lincoln Ave in 1965 and then to 170 N. Henderson St. in 1966. In 1969 we moved to 568 Monroe St. where we stayed for the next 15 years. Most of my childhood memories are from Monroe St. We lived next door to The
Davison's (Bob, Mary, Pat, Mike, and Julie). Pat was my age, Mike was George's age, and Julie and Barb had nothing in common, so they were outcasts as far as we knew...
My first school was L.T. Stone, which was from Kindergarten to 3rd grade. I then went to Steele Middle School for 4th - 6th grades. Then off to Churchill Jr. High School for 7th - 9th grades and finally Galesburg High School. I was in the last class (The class of 1982) at GHS that had a 3 year high school (The school went to 9th - 12th in 1983). After numerous offers from all the major colleges in the nation, I carefully chose Carl Sandberg Jr. College for my next 2 years. I almost graduated too, but decided to follow in the footsteps of my
Uncle Jack Bednarcik (1922-1941) so I joined the United States Air Force Sept 11th, 1984 under the delayed enlistment program, and entered Active Duty April 22nd, 1985.
Basic Training was a 6 week course at Lackland AFB in San Antonio, Texas. After my 6 weeks in the Hanoi pit of hell, in which I was Dorm Chief and Squad Leader, I went to Technical School at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, Mississippi. I was there for 18 weeks until October 1985. While at Keesler I received the Humanitarian Service Medal for the clean-up of Hurricane ELENA which came through in Sept. (Alternate Site). I was entering the Telecommunications Systems Control Specialist (30730) career field, which I had no clue about. After Tech School I went back to Galesburg and got married to Cindy Roberts on Nov. 9th, 1985. I already had orders to my first base, MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida. I was assigned to the 1928th Comm Squadron, and was immediately put in charge of the Red Patch and Test Facility (PTF) at the USREDCOM (United States Readiness
Command), a BIG accomplishment for a little Airman 1st Class. We were in Florida for 1 1/2 years until June 1987. We then went PCS (Permanent Change of Station) to Lindsey Air Station, located in
Wiesbaden, Germany. I was assigned to the 1CCGP (1st Combat Communications Group). I worked in 3 different mobility communications centers (1) AN/TSC-62 Van, (2)AN/TSC-107 Van (QRP), and (3)AN/TSQ-111 Van (CNCE). While there I got to go TDY (Temporary Duty) to England twice, Italy twice, Turkey, Scotland, and many more. I went up in the Eiffel Tower and
the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I also visited the Vatican, Rome, The Coliseum, Big Ben, and more. We were there for 3 years. After Germany I was stationed at Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, Louisiana. Cindy and I were divorced Sept. 91 and I was married to Sherri A. Boven in June, 1993. While at Barksdale I went TDY twice, once to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and the other to Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Sherri and I were divorced in 1995 and I left Barksdale in Aug to go to Incirlik Air Base, Incirlik Turkey where I spent 15 months assigned to the 39th Communications Squadron. I arrived at Scott AFB, Illinois in Jan 1998 and have been there ever since. I am hoping to retire at 20 years service, and I now have 7 more years to go. Wish me luck!!!!
Home Page , E-mail me at Jack "Gooch" Bednarcik