Stanovich family members from Export served during Korean War

Editor’s Note: This is part of a series about Westmoreland County residents who have been honored as Hometown Heroes.

When Robert Stanovich graduated from high school in 1954 in Export, there weren’t a ton of jobs to be had, so he opted for military service.

“He signed up along with a group of boys in his class,” said Stanovich’s cousin, Geraldine Berlin of Delmont.

When Stanovich returned home, his job prospects still were not great, Berlin said, so he headed to Penn State University to earn a degree.

“When he came back, it was still hard to find a job, so went back to the military and ended up retiring as a full-bird colonel,” Berlin said.

“Full bird” is military slang for a senior commissioned Army officer with at least 19 years of service who has attained the rank of colonel.

A few years before Robert Stanovich entered the military, Berlin’s brother, George Stanovich, was already there.

“George went into the service when I was pretty young, in the early 1950s,” Berlin said. “He was stationed in Europe as the Korean War broke out, working as a member of the motor pool.”

George’s daughter, Georgia Hubert of Fairfax, Va., has photos of her father underneath tanks and trucks during his time in the military.

Hubert said she can recall her father as a quiet man, but also as someone who could become the life of the party.

“He was funny,” she said. “If you were complaining about something, he’d be quick with something to say, like, ‘People in jail want ice water.’ ”

Hubert said George often could be found bowling at the Export Moose. He died in the mid-1980s.

“I feel lucky to have been able to visit the Korean War memorial in Seoul and to travel to Austria and saw where he served in Salzburg several times,” Hubert said.