John R. Trzeciak; Technical Writer, Engineer

John R. Trzeciak, a retired technical writer and engineer who served in World War II, died Friday. He was 84.

A Newbury Park resident, Trzeciak was born May 30, 1911, in Chicago.

He served as a staff sergeant in the army signal corps, setting up communications through Iceland and working as a cryptographer in England. Trzeciak took part in both the Normandy invasion and the Battle of the Bulge. But after leaving the service in 1945, he rarely talked about his war experience.

“He was proud of it, but there was a lot of unpleasantness,” said daughter Linda Shields of Quincy, Ill.

After the war, Trzeciak returned to Chicago, where he worked at the Teletype Corp. as a technical writer and engineer, writing manuals for the company’s machines and training people to use them.

He retired in 1973 and moved to Ventura County with his wife, Lois.

“We did have some relatives out this way, and we had taken some camping trips out West with our children,” Lois Trzeciak said. “We thought it was so beautiful that it was kind of our dream to move out West some day.”

Survivors also include daughters Susan Jurkowski of Carol Stream, Ill., and Mary Toft of Ventura, and son Mike Trzeciak of Houston.

A memorial Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Tuesday at St. Julie Billiart Church in Newbury Park.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that memorial donations be made to the church.

Ventura County obituaries are published free of charge as a public service to readers. Obituaries are based on information provided by mortuaries.