Stanley Raymond Wrobleski, 95, a proud U.S. Army veteran who served in the Army of Occupation in Japan following World War II and who moved to Staten Island from Brooklyn before the opening of the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge, died on March 10 at Staten Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.
Mr. Wrobleski was born in Brooklyn, one of six children of Stanley Adam Wrobleski, who immigrated to the United States from Poland, and the former Helen Bertha Dawiczkowski.
In one of the formative experiences of his life, Mr. Wrobleski as a teenager spent a summer working on a farm in upstate New York. He reminisced about life on the farm, including milking the cows and taking care of two horses, Prince and Dolly, until his dying day. The time he spent on the farm kicked off Mr. Wrobleski’s lifelong passion for gardening.
Mr. Wrobleski enlisted in the U.S. Army on Nov. 23, 1948 and served with American forces that occupied Japan following World War II. His time in Japan and exposure to Japanese culture left a deep impression on Mr. Wrobleski, and he often shared stories of his tour of duty there.
Mr. Wrobleski was stationed in Yokohama, and he recalled one time sharing an elevator with Gen. Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers and director of the occupation effort. Mr. Wrobleski said he saluted the general, and MacArthur gave him a nod in return.
During his time in Japan, Mr. Wrobleski climbed Mount Fuji, at 12,389 feet the highest mountain in Japan, and also visited the ground zero site where the atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. Photos of Mr. Wrobleski on Mount Fuji and at Nagasaki were among his treasured possessions.
Mr. Wrobleski often told the story of how as he was preparing to leave Japan at the end of his tour, he had obtained a set of plans for the invasion of Japan. The invasion became unnecessary with the Japanese surrender following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
A superior officer performing an inspection,…
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