John Frederick Imhoff, Jr. was born in Utica on June 17th 1925, the youngest of four boy’s born to John Imhoff and Rose Landry. In August of 1943, John was working as a laborer at the Rome Air Service Command at Griffis Air Base in Rome, NY. John was inducted into the Armed Forces on August 23rd, 1943 and was furloughed from his position at the Rome Air Service Command on August 26th. On September 14th 1943, John entered active duty and departed for Camp Davis, North Carolina. John arrived at Fort Davis on September 26th, was assigned to Battery ‘C’ 138th Anti-Aircraft Artillery Gun Battalion and assigned Army Serial Number is “32943517”. At this time John was 5’ 7” with Blue Eyes, Blond hair and weighed 130 pounds.
John remained at Camp Davis training until 27 February 1945 when he departed for Europe. John remained in Europe participating in the Rhineland (15 September 1944-21 March 1945) and Central Europe (22 March-11 May 1945) campaigns during the months immediately prior to Germany’s surrender on May 7th 1945. John remained in Europe until July 1945, when he was sent to the Pacific theater of war. John left Europe on July 28th 1945 and arrived in Western Pacific Theater of Operation on September 12, 1945, 10 days after the surrender of Japan. John would remain in the Pacific until December 18th when he departed for the USA, arriving in San Francisco on Christmas day 1945.
While in the service John was a heavy machine gun operator. He held the following qualifications: M1 Sharpshooter (November 1943); 1903 Springfield Rifle Expert (December 1944) and Thompson Sub Machine Gun 45 Expert (August 1944).
John was discharged from service as a Private First Class and separated on 15 Feb 1946 from Fort Dix, New Jersey. During the course of his service John spent 1 year 7 months in the USA and 9 months 29 days in foreign territories. John was a decorated soldier who was credited with two campaigns, both in a combat capacity (Rhineland and Central Europe). John also received a Good Conduct Award, the World War Two Victory Medal, American Service Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and Asiatic-Pacific Medal.
After the War John continued to live in the Utica area and worked at the Chicago Pneumatic Tool company. John passed away at home on Tuesday, July 30, 1985 at 1:30 PM. Interesting note on John’s name. On his SSN card his middle name is listed as Pascal, I assume after his mother’s (Rose Landry) father, Pascal Landry. However, on his military documents and death certificate he is listed as John F. Imhoff.