Obituary: John 'Joe' Stanley Synakowski

John ‘Joe’ Stanley Synakowski

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John “Joe” Stanley Synakowski passed from this world on Sept. 10, 2026. He was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, on April 22, 1930, the eighth of 13 children born to Margaret (Kucinski) and Francis Synakowski. The family moved to Buffalo when John was a child.

John left Buffalo in 1944 to work in Philadelphia and live with his older sister, Frances. He took his older brother, Joseph’s, baptismal certificate as proof of age (two years older than he was). John enlisted in the Army in 1945 as “Joe” and thus began his years of being called by that name. He volunteered for the 508th Parachute School in Frankfurt, Germany, and graduated in April 1946. He reported to the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and was assigned to C Company, 325th Glider Infantry Regiment. He served as an interpreter in the German POW Camp at Dachau and worked in the displaced persons camps.

After his military service, John returned to Philadelphia and then relocated to Buffalo a year later. He worked many jobs, eventually working for the City of Buffalo Sewer Authority where he was employed for 20 years, retiring in 1996. John and his wife, Marilyn Kornell, were married in 1979 and lived in Buffalo until they moved to Grand Island in 1995.

Upon arriving on Grand Island, John transferred his American Legion membership to Post 1346 on the Island and also joined Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9249, which is named for PFC Charles N. DeGlopper. He then began his lifelong effort to honor the heroism of DeGlopper, a 21-year-old Islander who was posthumously awarded the Medal of Honor for giving his life to save his platoon near La Fière, France, on June 9, 1944.

In 1994, to honor the 50th anniversary of Charles DeGlopper’s death, John organized a townwide celebration including a parade from Grand Island Town Hall to Veterans Park on Bedell Road where a program was held that included speakers, music and an Airborne jump. A display of WWII artifacts at Trinity Church on Whitehaven Road drew large crowds.

John led efforts for several important projects that included raising funds through annual Poppy Days; replacing DeGlopper’s flat, ground-level gravestone in Maple Grove Cemetery with an upright stone more fitting for a Medal of Honor recipient; and installing a historic marker sign at the cemetery. He also helped organize the 82nd Airborne Division’s annual convention in Niagara Falls in 1997.

In 2010, John traveled to Normandy with members of the DeGlopper family to visit the place where Charles DeGlopper made the ultimate sacrifice. He faithfully supported the U.S.-Normandy Association “Memory and Gratitude,” a French organization that maintains memorials near La Fière for DeGlopper and Father Ignatius Maternowski, OFM, Conv., a Polish-American paratrooper priest who was the only U.S. Army chaplain to die on D-Day. Finally, John commemorated National Airborne Day with local officials on Grand Island each year on Aug. 16.

John was preceded in death by Marilyn, his loving wife of 45 years, in 2024, and by 11 of his 12 siblings. He is survived by his sister, Margaret Glapinski, of The Villages, Florida; and by several nieces and nephews and their families.

A graveside service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 6, at St. Stephen’s Cemetery, 2100 Baseline Road, Grand Island. Memorials in John’s name may be made to the DeGlopper Memorial, 2121 Grand Island Blvd., Grand Island, NY 14072.