Walter Perkowski

After the war, he moved to Forest Park, where he made a career at the US Postal Service. He became an avid flower gardener and enjoyed stone work, building a rock waterfall and pool in his yard.

Perkowski, who grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, joined the Army at 19 and remained a private throughout his much decorated career as a scout and general tough guy. He was a member of the F Company of the 517th Parachute Infantry Regimental Combat Team.

He earned a Silver Star, the third highest military decoration for valor in combat, for “conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action.” He received the award for a specific patrol he led in September 1944 in southern France, sent out to locate the enemy and determine the line of resistance.

According to the citation, he killed two enemy soldiers and then, speaking in Polish, persuaded 14 other German soldiers to surrender. The patrol and prisoners continued and then came under fire from two machine guns but they could not pinpoint their location. So Perkowski popped up and “exposed himself in order to draw their fire,” allowing others to take out the guns with mortars.

He also won a Bronze Star and many other combat citations. During his tour of duty, Perkowski was assigned to 13 different units as the 517th moved with the front lines in Belgium, France and Italy. The 517th Battalion accumulated 150 combat days and Perkowski was in the thick of most of them. The battalion's casualty rate was 81.6 percent.

A jacket and other items from Perkowski's career are on display at the Currahee Military Museum in Toccoa, Georgia, where he and other members of the 517th trained.

Perkowski earned two Purple Hearts and received a disability pension for the rest of his life for shrapnel in his eye and a bullet wound in the elbow. Already a fitness fanatic, he became a body builder and lifted weights well into his 80s to compensate for his limited ability to extend his right arm.

Survivors include his wife of 52 years, Carol Perkowski of Forest Park; a daughter, Kathy Perkowski of Asheville, NC; a stepdaughter, Tara Evans of Cartersville, GA; grandchildren Chad Gentry of Dallas, GA, Erin Evans of Cartersville and Brandy Greer of of Hiram, GA; and four great grandchildren, Chance Greer of Hiram, and Chad Gentry Jr., Colin Gentry and Lorilei Gentry, of Dallas.

The funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Tara Garden Chapel in Jonesboro, with visitation at 12:30 p.m.. The Rev. Ken Davidson will preside.. A service with military honors will follow at Sherwood Memorial Park and Mausoleum.