Emil Saroch, World War II veteran and Naval Academy graduate, dies at 104

Emil Saroch, a World War II veteran and instructor for the Navy Junior ROTC, died June 23 at his home in Annapolis. He was 104. No cause of death was given.

Mr. Saroch was the fourth child of farmers Emil and Martha Saroch, who lived in St. James, Missouri. As a child, he went to a one-room schoolhouse until attending St. James High School and graduating in 1936.

“He was still at heart a Missouri farm boy, brought up in the Depression, educated in a one-room schoolhouse with a deep sense of faith, family and country which has made our country thrive,” said Victoria Matthews, his daughter.

Mr. Saroch enlisted in the Navy in 1937 and was assigned to the USS Melville, a support ship, in San Diego. Then, he attended the old Naval Academy Preparatory School in Norfolk, Virginia, before becoming a midshipman at the Naval Academy in Annapolis.

In 1943, he met and fell in love with Patricia Rementer, at the academy’s annual class ring dance. Mr. Saroch graduated early in 1944 because of World War II.

Mr. Saroch’s first assignment was with a new class of ships designed to support the amphibious assault forces in the Pacific that were known as Mighty Midgets for their defense against Japanese kamikaze planes.

During an attack, a kamikaze struck and damaged the USS LST-119, killing 10 and wounding 18. He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions during the attack.

When he returned from his tour of duty, he married Ms. Rementer at St. Giles Episcopal Church in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania.

Starting in 1946, Mr. Saroch was a first lieutenant and gunnery officer on the USS Rowan. While at sea, his first child was born in 1948.

Following five years of sea duty, Mr. Saroch became a navigation instructor at the Naval Academy.

While on another tour in Washington, D.C., as a member of the chief of naval operation’s foreign military sales, he ran the Sunday school chapel services at Truro Episcopal Church in Fairfax, Virginia. During subsequent tours of duty, he was the first executive officer on the USS Turner and the USS Fremont in the early 1960s.

Starting in 1961, Mr. Saroch was the commanding officer for the USS Wallace L. Lind.

His final tour was as the chief of the military advisory group in the Netherlands, where he reported directly to the U.S. ambassador.

Following his retirement in 1974, Mr. Saroch became the naval science instructor for the Navy Junior ROTC at both St. Paul’s in New Jersey and Episcopal High School in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

A member of the Military Order of the World Wars, he was part of the effort to bring the USS KIDD to Baton Rouge, where it is a museum today.

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“My grandfather was duty personified,” Marc Dykeman said. ” His storied military career is the most obvious example, but his sense of duty pervaded everything he did. In retirement, he gravitated towards work like delivering newspapers, growing vegetables, and serving on the altar guild.”

Mr. Saroch, who taught Sunday school with his wife, began attending Cursillo, or short courses in Christianity.

“Towards the end of his life, his constant question was whether the mail had arrived yet,” his grandson said. “It felt at times like an excerpt from the Episcopal liturgy that he loved so much, a call and response ritual reminding his family, friends and country that there is deep meaning in service.”

“He had a profound sense of duty and love for his family, which he instilled in his children and grandchildren,” his daughter said. “He was extremely courteous and a welcoming host and a grateful man, with a gift of humility, which honored all who came in contact with him, from strangers to caregivers to close family members.”

In addition to his daughter, he is survived by three other children, Winnifred Dykeman, of Edgewater, George Saroch, of Arnold, and Patricia Saroch, of Richmond, Virginia; 24 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. His wife predeceased him.

Services were July 2 at St. Margaret’s Church in Annapolis. Burial will be at a later date at Arlington National Cemetery.