- Born: March 5, 1923, Charleston, Kanawha County, West Virginia
- Died: November 1, 1982, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma
- Relationship: My great-granduncle
John Wesley Wegley was my great-granduncle and my grandfather’s older brother. He was born on March 5, 1923, in Charleston, West Virginia, the son of Frederick Wegley and Tillie Blanch Edwards.
He was the second John Wesley Wegley in my family tree, sharing the name of an earlier family member. Although John was born in West Virginia, his family did not remain there permanently, and by 1930 they were living in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania.
Growing Up in Pennsylvania
The 1930 United States census records John as seven years old and attending school. His childhood coincided with the beginning of the Great Depression, a period that placed enormous economic pressure on working families throughout Pennsylvania and the rest of the country.
John did not complete high school. Later records indicate that he completed approximately two years of high school before entering the workforce.
By his late teens, he was working in the glass industry, following the same general occupation as his father. The 1940 census described him as a new worker, suggesting that he was just beginning his working life around this period.
Working in the Glass Industry
John’s later marriage certificate gives a more specific description of his occupation. In 1946, he was recorded as a cutter working in the window glass industry.
His World War II draft registration also identifies his employer as the American Window Glass Factory in Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania. This gives us a direct connection between John and the glass-manufacturing industry that employed many people in southwestern Pennsylvania.
At the time of his draft registration, John was living at:
210 Wood Street
Belle Vernon, Fayette County, Pennsylvania
His mother, Mrs. Fred Wegley, was listed as the person who would always know his address and was living at the same residence.
World War II Draft Registration
John registered for the draft in 1942 when he was nineteen years old. His registration card confirms several important details about his identity and early adult life.
| Field | Information |
|---|---|
| Full name | John Wesley Wegley |
| Age | 19 |
| Date of birth | March 5, 1923 |
| Birthplace | Charleston, West Virginia |
| Residence | 210 Wood Street, Belle Vernon, Fayette County, Pennsylvania |
| Mailing address | Same |
| Contact person | Mrs. Fred Wegley |
| Employer | American Window Glass Factory |
| Place of employment | Belle Vernon, Fayette County, Pennsylvania |
| Height | 5 feet 5 inches |
| Weight | 135 pounds |
| Complexion | Light |
| Hair | Brown |
| Eyes | Blue |
The physical description gives us a much more personal picture of John than census records alone can provide. At nineteen, he was a relatively small young man with brown hair and blue eyes, already working in the same industrial world his father had worked in.
Entering the United States Army
John entered active military service during World War II. His Pennsylvania World War II veterans’ compensation application records his entry into active service on February 12, 1943, at Fort George G. Meade, Maryland.
Another source has given February 20, 1943, as his enlistment date. Rather than assuming one record is wrong, the difference may reflect separate administrative dates for induction, enlistment, or entry into active duty.
The compensation application is particularly valuable because it was completed from John’s military service information and gives a detailed breakdown of his wartime service.
World War II Service
John served in the United States Army under serial number: 33 429 246. His compensation application divides his service into domestic and foreign periods. It credits him with approximately:
- 5 months of active domestic service
- 29 months of active foreign service
That means John spent considerably more of his Army career overseas than in the United States.
The form records foreign service beginning around July 19, 1943, and continuing until November 29, 1945. He separated from active service on December 6, 1945, at Indiantown Gap, Pennsylvania.
John ultimately attained the rank of Staff Sergeant, showing that he progressed well beyond the rank at which he entered the Army.
Nearly Two and a Half Years Overseas
The 29 months of foreign service recorded on John’s compensation application represent approximately two years and five months overseas. That was the overwhelming majority of his wartime service.
The document currently available does not identify the exact countries, campaigns, unit, or theaters in which John served. Those details should remain open until we can locate his complete military personnel records, discharge papers, unit records, or other documentation.
We can confidently say that John spent a substantial period outside the continental United States during World War II and remained in the Army until after the war ended.
Pennsylvania Veterans’ Compensation
After the war, John applied for compensation through Pennsylvania’s World War II Veterans’ Compensation Bureau. The application provides a useful summary of his service and shows how Pennsylvania calculated payments based upon domestic and overseas military service.
The form credited him with:
- $50 for domestic service
- $435 for foreign service
- Total compensation: $485
He received his application in May 1950. By then, John lived at P.O. Box 853 in Henryetta, Okmulgee County, Oklahoma, showing he had already moved from Pennsylvania to Oklahoma by the beginning of the 1950s.
Marriage to Norma Jean Pocky
Only a few months after leaving the Army, John married Norma Jean Pocky. They married on April 1, 1946, in Winchester, Virginia. John was twenty-three years old, while Norma was twenty-one. Neither had previously been married. Their Virginia marriage certificate provides extensive information about both of them.
| Field | John Wesley Wegley | Norma Jean Pocky |
|---|---|---|
| Age | 23 | 21 |
| Race | White | White |
| Marital status | Single | Single |
| Occupation | Cutter | Bookkeeper |
| Industry | Window glass | Not stated |
| Birthplace | Charleston, West Virginia | Speers, Pennsylvania |
| Father | Fred Wegley | William Pocky |
| Mother | Tillie Edwards | Alice Frocheur |
| Residence | 210 Wood Street, Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania | 1003 Lower Crest, Charleroi, Pennsylvania |
The marriage certificate therefore provides another independent record confirming John’s parents as Fred Wegley and Tillie Edwards.
A Baptist Wedding in Winchester
John and Norma were married in Winchester, Virginia, by E. T. Cook, identified on the certificate as a Baptist minister. The ceremony took place on April 1, 1946, exactly as stated on the marriage license.
The timing is notable because John had been discharged from the Army only about four months earlier. His marriage to Norma therefore came almost immediately after his transition back into civilian life.
John and Norma’s Children
John and Norma went on to have four known children:
- Lynn Wegley, born 1947
- Wesley Wegley, born 1952
- Janine Wegley, born 1955
- Donald Wegley, born 1959
Their children represented another generation of the Wegley family whose lives became centered in Oklahoma rather than Pennsylvania.
From Pennsylvania to Oklahoma
John’s records trace a significant geographic journey. He was born in West Virginia, grew up primarily in Pennsylvania, worked in the glass industry in Belle Vernon, entered the Army in Maryland, served overseas during World War II, married in Virginia, and eventually settled in Oklahoma.
By 1950, his veterans’ compensation application lists his address in Henryetta, Oklahoma. This places him firmly in Okmulgee County by that time.
The move continued the gradual westward migration of this branch of the Wegley family. Earlier generations had been concentrated in Pennsylvania, while John’s generation established lasting roots much farther west.
Death in 1982
John Wesley Wegley died on November 1, 1982, in Okmulgee County, Oklahoma. He was fifty-nine years old. He was buried at West Lawn Cemetery in Henryetta, Oklahoma, the community with which he had been associated for decades after moving from Pennsylvania.
John’s Place in the Wegley Family
John’s life reflects a major transition in the family’s twentieth-century history. He began life as the son of a Pennsylvania glass worker, entered the same industry himself as a teenager, and then had his life dramatically redirected by World War II.
He spent approximately twenty-nine months overseas, rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant, and returned home at the end of 1945. Within four months, he married Norma Jean Pocky, and within a few years the couple began establishing their family in Oklahoma.
His surviving records give us an unusually detailed picture of his young adulthood. We know where he lived, where he worked, what he looked like, where he entered military service, how long he served overseas, where he was discharged, whom he married, and where he eventually settled.
John Wesley Wegley’s story is therefore more than a sequence of birth, marriage, military service, and death dates. It is the story of a young glass worker from southwestern Pennsylvania whose generation was swept into World War II and who returned from nearly two and a half years of overseas service to build an entirely new chapter of the Wegley family in Oklahoma.