WEST POINT, N.Y. - The Army gymnastics team traveled to West Palm Beach, Fla., over spring break in preparation for the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Championships. During the trip, members of the team took advantage of the opportunity to visit the home of Retired Army Brig. Gen. Albin Irzyk, a World War II veteran and West Palm Beach native.
"It was a once in a lifetime opportunity to visit and learn from a combat leader who worked for General Patton," said captain Alex Ganz.
Irzyk fought five campaigns in Europe as a 27-28 year old Tank Battalion Commander in the Fourth Armored Division, which spearheaded Gen. Patton's Third Army across much of Europe. He was wounded twice and received the nation's second highest decoration, the Distinguished Service Cross, for extraordinary heroism. The team visited Irzyk on March 17 and it was not lost on them that almost exactly 70 years earlier, on 18 March 1945, then Colonel Irzyk earned the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). Full Story»