Joseph Kršul

https://www.glasistre.hr/hrvatska/josip-krsul-americki-marinac-s-io...

U krugu najbliže rodbine i prijatelja Selčanin Josip Kršul, koji je kao američki marinac sudjelovao u bitki za pacifički otok Iwo Jimu, u ponedjeljak je u Selcu proslavio 107. rođendan.

Josip Kršul rodio se 10. prosinca 1911. u Selcu, a među najvažnijom epizodom u njegovu životu bilo je njegovo sudjelovanje u postrojbi američkih marinaca na Iwo Jimi.

Nakon školovanja u Selcu i Crikvenici, Josip se u Beogradu školovao za električara. Tečaj za radiotelegrafista završio je u Šibeniku, a nedugo nakon toga ukrcao se na brod "Zvir" u Rotterdamu. Plovio je do Drugoga svjetskog rata, a rat ga zatječe u Galvestonu, u Teksasu, gdje se javlja u američku vojsku kako bi kao marinac sudjelovao na pacifičkom ratištu. Nakon Havaja sudjelovao je i u borbama na legendarnom otoku Iwo Jimi.

U Sjedinjene Američke Države, u Kaliforniju, vraća se nakon rata. Od trenutka kad se javio u američku vojsku ima američko državljanstvo, a poslije je regulirao i hrvatsko.

Najviše godina provodi u San Franciscu radeći u Western Unionu na održavanju telekomunikacijskih uređaja. Oženio se Milicom, Amerikankom naših korijena, koja je umrla prije 12 godina, a Josip se šest godina poslije vraća u rodno Selce.

Kršul passed away in the early hours of Friday in Selce in Croatia’s Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, daily 24sata reported.

Kršul celebrated his 109th birthday back on 10 December in the same house he was born in 1911 in Selce.

After finishing school in Selce and Crikvenica, he studied to be an electrician. He was unable to find a job in his hometown so he went to Šibenik where he became a telegraphist.

At the start of World War II, Josip moved to Texas in America where he worked odd jobs. He ended up joining the United States Army and in 1945 he participated in the Battle of Iwo Jima.

Kršul obtained US citizenship and after the war moved to California. He would spend most of his life working in Western Union in San Francisco. He got married to an American-Croatian, Milica. The couple had no children.

Milica passed away in 2006 and five years later, around 2011, Kršul decided to move back to Croatia to live. Longevity is in the genes, his sister Jelena made it to 102.

He had been the oldest living person in Croatia since the death of Andja Peric on 7 February 2019 at the age of 108.