Millions of Americans who served in World War II returned home to reintegrate into civilian life, but dealt with deep invisible wounds.

Soldiers had to reestablish their place in their families and transition to civilian life.

They often struggled in silence with severe psychological trauma, now known as Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Michael D. Melillo reveals the story of U.S. Army First Lieutenant Joseph Paul “Pop” Janscak of Allentown in “What the River Kept: A Story of War, Survival, and the Silence that Followed” (330 pp.; Kindle, $9.99; Paperback, $20.99; Hardcover, $24.99; Fernling Press, Chester County, 2026).

After 50 years of silence, the former soldier spoke to Melillo, who writes of Janscak’s wartime experiences.

Janscak was a World War II infantryman whose “survival came at a cost that he carried quietly for the rest of his life,” writes Melillo.

“Through training fields, frozen marches, captivity, and return, his story unfolds as a tale of endurance and what it means to live through war and then learn how to live afterward.”

Melillo relied on memory, testimony and careful listening. He wanted the book to “honor the men who did not speak easily about what they saw, what they lost, and what stayed with them long after the guns went quiet.”

Melillo says, “This is not a story about winning a war but rather it is a story about what survival asks of a man.”

The story begins

Melillo met Janscak when he was dating Janscak’s granddaughter, Christine Gibbons, when they were seniors at The Pennsylvania State University.

Melillo, a New Jersey native, would spend weekends in Whitehall, visiting Gibbons and her grandparents. Melillo appreciated spending time with Janscak because he did not get to spend time with his own grandparents.

He was told by Gibbons’ family that Janscak was a World War II veteran and was not to talk about the military or politics with him. Melillo respected this request.

After three years of dating Janscak’s granddaughter and visiting regularly with the family, Melillo recalled helping Janscak move boxes from the basement when he saw a military photo that revealed a strikingly young Janscak.

“You want to hear about my war stories, don’t you, Micheal?” Janscak asked.

“No, not unless you want me to,” Melillo replied.

Janscak did not share the stories with him.

Melillo and Christine Gibbons married in 1995. Melillo felt more comfortable as part of the family, but he continued to respect the family’s wishes not to ask about Janscak’s war stories.

Then one day, Janscak brought a box to Melillo and started talking. Melillo listened.

Melillo recalls that Janscak spoke for two hours about how he graduated from Catasauqua High School in 1936 at the age of 18. He talked about his high school baseball team pitching records and that he was offered a contract with a minor-league team.

The conversations continued for the next two years with Janscak pulling Melillo aside to share his stories. Melillo listened.

“My jaw dropped to the floor, and I was on the edge of my seat the entire time, but I just listened,” Melillo recalls. He said that “millions of things were going through his mind at the time,” but he just listened. Janscak was 78 at the time.

The movie “Saving Private Ryan” was released in 1998. Janscak told Melillo that he was going to see the movie alone.

Melillo says that Janscak called him after he saw the film. Janscak was able to view the film because he had opened up about his experiences to Melillo.

Unsure of why he was chosen by Janscak, Melillo says that during their conversations he remained quiet, did not ask questions and listened.

“He needed to get a weight off his chest and I needed to show compassion and just listen,” says Melillo.

Janscak did not look for recognition or appreciation. Melillo says that there were difficult moments when Janscak would pause for 20 minutes and Melillo never interjected to move the story along. “I just sat with him and waited,” he recalls.

Book’s chapters reveal

In the book, each chapter reveals aspects of Janscak sharing dreams of playing baseball for the Yankees, the reality of working at the Bethlehem Steel plant during the Great Depression, the wrenching decision to enlist after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the struggles of basic training, experiencing World War II in Europe and surviving as a prisoner of war in Germany, trying to choose what to do with the survival, and learning how to “rest inside the night.”

Melillo describes Janscak as a stoic individual who never showed emotion.

After hearing his story, Melillo told Janscak that he was “amazing.”

For the first time, Melillo “saw a smile he had never previously seen and Janscak chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief. He was done and went back to his old self.”

Melillo tried to encourage Janscak to share his story with his family.

After reading the book about Jancsak’s story of survival, the reader will better understand how difficult it would have been to share it with a wife, children and grandchildren and why Janscak chose to keep his experiences to himself.

Janscak’s three adult children never knew about their father’s World War II experiences because they were never allowed to ask about them.

One has to wonder, though, could the man in the corner sitting in silence carrying such weight from the war have been helped by talking with others who might have experienced similar pain?

Melillo felt that Janscak’s story could help military families and veterans. At the time, Janscak refused. “Absolutely not,” he told Melillo.

Janscak would be faced with another challenge of survival when Helen, his wife of 58 years, died in 2007. He was heartbroken.

When someone close to Janscak dies, he would “absorb it and survive. Surviving tortured him,” Melillo observed.

Janscak received two Purple Heart honors, but bore the silence of the two men who were not able to come home.

‘Your story now’

Melillo received a call with Janscak saying, “I want to tell you the whole story again.”

Melillo was told to bring a notebook and a pen. No microphones. No pictures. Janscak told Melillo his story again.

“It is your story now. Do whatever you think you should do with this,” he told Melillo.

Janscak died Nov. 2, 2010, at the age of 91.

For the next two years, the notebook remained untouched until Melillo began filling in the story. He wanted to share the story with his children and his wife’s family.

“I owed it to him to do something with it,” Melillo says.

However, Melillo was unsure of what to do with the story.

Melillo is a successful businessman and did not see himself as a writer-author.

“I carried the weight of not knowing what to do with this story,” Melillo says.

Telling his story

Melillo was President and CEO of GMA Logistics, Inc. After retiring in 2024, Melillo committed himself to sharing Janscak’s story.

After graduating from Catasauqua High School in 1936, Janscak had hopes of pursuing a baseball career.

Janscak’s father told him that “the Yankees do not pay the bills, Bethlehem Steel does.”

Janscak began working for The Steel and impressed the steelworkers with his knowledge of steel and his ability to fix things on the line.

Janscak appeared to have a natural ability to fix things and seemed to excel at everything he pursued whether it was baseball, steel or aeronautics.

Following the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, Janscak signed up for the Army Air Corps in 1942. He completed basic training in Biloxi, Miss.

Earning high scores on the aptitude test resulted in Janscak being sent to Officer Candidate Training. After completing the training, Janscek was sent to Casey Jones School of Aeronautics, Newark, N.J. His natural intelligence would play a vital role in his ability to survive the war in Europe.

In the corner

At family parties, Janscak was known to sit in the corner. If one engaged in conversation with him, he would provide one-word answers.

He was a soft-spoken, quiet man, and most of the children left him alone. He was never angry and never raised his voice. Nobody in his family knew any of his war experiences. They knew his baseball pitching records at Catasauqua High School and that he was offered a minor-league contract.

What they did not know was that Janscak was “carrying bodies that did not make it” home from the war. There were many times when Janscak was “sent to his death,” but survived.

Melillo wanted to frame the book as a story to his children so they knew about their great-grandfather and the sacrifices he made through his military service.

Surviving with the silence is something Janscak carried home for 50 years.

Janscak’s son Joe was angry at times because his father would not talk with him and sensed his father’s emotional absence. His son loved his father and knew he was a great man, but had hoped he could have been more emotionally-present for him and his siblings.

For the first time

Janscak’s children read about their father’s experiences for the first time in the book.

As with many veterans, Janscak wanted to protect his family from his war experiences and suffered in silence.

The book includes photographs that invite the reader to become part of the family. The appendix includes resources to provide the reader an historical perspective.

Melillo’s creative use of developing the natural environment of the forest, ground, sky and rivers as characters in the story is a powerful use of personification that gives another dimension to a story already embedded with layers.

Names were changed to protect the privacy of individuals.

Janscak and his comrade “Sid” survive the harrowing war experiences together, including surviving as German prisoners of war because of a connection to Janscak’s work at Bethlehem Steel.

Janscak understood that “If I’d been placed in any other room, before any other officer, I wouldn’t have lived to tell this story.”

Following the end of the war, they parted ways and never saw each other or contacted one another again. Melillo was surprised to realize that “so much of our lives depend on things that almost didn’t happen.”

Deep appreciation

Melillo says that while he has always respected those who serve, being able to write his grandfather-in-law’s story has changed him for the better.

“While I did not take it for granted, I did not give it its due,” he says. After completing Janscak’s story, Melillo has a deeper appreciation of military service.

“I am so impressed by the people who make this sacrifice. I never knew how deep the sacrifices were. He [Janscak] gave up being an all-together father for his children. He gave up his whole life for this country. This is an extraordinary story, but it is not mine.”

Melillo says that he has experienced the normal stresses of working and raising a family. Janscak’s experiences provided perspective and inspiration.

Being able to tell his story to someone might have been cathartic for Janscak.

Melillo says that Janscak’s story could possibly help other veterans and military families understand the silence of other men and women “in the corner.”

Melillo says that his son’s friend who served in combat in the Middle East told him that “things are different for me.” There is a reason why someone might be “quiet in the corner.”

Melillo is most proud of the book’s dedication to Joseph Paul “Pop” Janscak, “who survived the war, endured its memories, and after fifty years, gave his story to me. And for all the veterans who returned home, but never truly left the war behind.”

Everybody has a story to tell and listening is a valuable skill. Will you listen?

“What the River Kept: A Story of War, Survival, and the Silence that Followed” is available on Amazon; through the business book wholesaler Ingram Spark, and at Barnes and Noble and barnesandnoble.com