John P. Gryckiewicz
John Paul Gryckiewicz was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut on February 17, 1918.
John P. Gryckiewicz was appointed to the Camden Fire Department on November 15, 1940 and reported for duty at the Fire Training School on November 16. He was subsequently assigned to Engine Company 2 on December 9, 1940. After Pearl Harbor was attacked by the Japanese on December 7, 1941 John P. Gryckiewicz enlisted in the United States Navy.
On August 1, 1942, at Holy Name Catholic Church in North Camden, John Gryckiewicz married. He and his bride Mary were blessed with over 60 years together as well as numerous children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. They made their home at 810 North Front Street in North Camden.
John P. Gryckiewicz served his country from 1942 through 1945, leaving the service with the rank of Chief Machinist Mate. Much of his duty was aboard the battleship USS South Dakota, which saw action in both the Atlantic and Pacific theaters of operations.
John P. Gryckiewicz returned to duty in 1945 with Engine Company 2. The 1947 Camden City Directory shows him and his wife Mary living at 934 North 19th Street in Cramer Hill, where they stayed through at least the fall of 1956. On June 16, 1951 he was promoted to Captain and assigned to Engine Company 6 at Front and Linden Streets.
The Gryckiewicz family, which in time grew to six children, moved to 503 North 36th Street in East Camden by October of 1959. John P. and Mary Gryckiewicz were still living at that address as late as 1977. Son John T. Gryckiewicz followed his father into the Fire Department in 1968.
After serving for 40 years with the Fire Department John P. Gryckiewicz retired in March of 1980. He and his wife Mary moved to New Port Richey, Florida in 1983. Mrs. Gryckiewicz passed away in November of 2005. John Paul Gryckiewicz joined her in June of the following year. They were survived by their six children, John, Michael, Mary, Kathleen, JoAnn, and Theresa, as well as six grandchildren and a number of great-grandchildren.
Fire Department Record
Tag: john-p-gryckiewicz
36th Street
Thirty-Sixth Street runs from the Delaware River south, across River Road, to Federal Street, and forms Camden's northern border with Pennsauken Township at intervals along its length. It became part of Camden when Stockton Township was annexed in 1899, and had been known in Pennsauken as Cove Avenue into the 1890s.
19th Street
Nineteenth Street runs from the Pavonia railroad switching yards across River Avenue north to Harrison Avenue in the Cramer Hill section of Camden, New Jersey.
John Paul Gryckiewicz
Death notice for John Paul Gryckiewicz, 87, formerly of Camden, who died June 4, 2006 in New Port Richey, Florida; a retired Camden fire captain of 40 years and a WWII Navy veteran of the USS South Dakota.
Mary M. Gryckiewicz
Death notice for Mary M. Gryckiewicz, 82, of New Port Richey, Florida, formerly of Camden, who died November 7, 2005; wife of retired Camden fire captain John P. Gryckiewicz.
50th Wedding Anniversary
John and Mary Gryckiewicz, formerly of Camden, marked their 50th wedding anniversary in August 1992 with a party at the Innisbrook Country Club in Tarpon Springs, Florida, hosted by their six children.
Friends Will Honor Veteran Firefighter
On the eve of his March 1980 retirement dinner, Camden fire captain John P. Gryckiewicz looked back on 40 years with the department — the rescues, the Garden State Race Track fire, 84-hour weeks and $60 paychecks, and a city he still loved.
Family of Six Escapes Fire
Mrs. Girlene Garrett and her six children escaped a two-alarm fire that gutted their home at 832 North 3rd Street in August 1968; Acting Battalion Chief John Gryckiewicz and Hoseman Edmund Gorczynski were treated at Cooper Hospital for burns.
Camden Fireman Cited by Buffs
The Delaware Valley Fire Buffs Association gave Camden fire captain John Gryckiewicz a special citation and a $25 savings bond in September 1966 for his rescue of Mrs. Emily Burns from a burning North Camden bedroom, his second honor that year.
MS Victim: Fireman Rescues Woman
Fire Capt. John Gryckiewicz of Engine Company 6 carried Mrs. Emily Burns, a 40-year-old multiple sclerosis patient, from her burning second-floor apartment at 602 North 2nd Street in February 1965, after two civilian rescue attempts failed.
Fire Captain in Pearl St. Blaze
A Courier-Post account of a Pearl Street fire in which Capt. John Gryckiewicz carried a resident to safety; District Chief Howard Gick described the blaze.
Drowning Spurs Move for Fence Along Riverfront
After 10-year-old Robert Allebach of 533 Bailey Street drowned falling from a raft in the Delaware River, North Camden neighbors petitioned the city in February 1950 to build a fence along the riverfront between Seventh and Eighth streets.
Tug Blast Averted by Rookie Fireman
Rookie Camden fireman John Gryckiewicz, five weeks on the job, pulled a burning rope from around a 50-gallon gasoline drum aboard the tug Pacific at the American Dredging Company docks in December 1940, preventing an explosion.
Mrs. Kobus to Ask More Cops, Firemen for City Next Year
Camden Public Safety Commissioner Mary W. Kobus announced in December 1940 that her appointment of 22 patrolmen and 10 firemen had restored the public safety department to 1938 strength, and said she would seek money for more officers because of defense needs; John Gryckiewicz of 810 North Front Street was among the fire appointees.
Mrs. Kobus Names 3 Cops, 4 Firemen
Commissioner Mary W. Kobus announced the appointment of three Camden policemen and four firemen in November 1940; among the new firefighters was John Gryckiewicz of 810 North Front Street.