John J. Chluski
By Ron Hayes
BOCA RATON — As a top executive with ITT, John J. Chluski lived what many would consider a dream job.
As a teenager during World War II, he lived what all would call a nightmare.
Mr. Chluski, who died Jan. 3 at 87 after a long illness, was only 16 when the Nazis invaded Poland. He fled his native Warsaw with a relative and headed east, determined to fight the advancing Soviet army. And he was captured.
“My father spent his 17th birthday in a prison camp,” said his son, John W. Chluski.
Released near Kiev, Ukraine, after several months, Mr. Chluski traveled by train and bicycle across Europe and on to Algiers, in North Africa, where he stayed until the Allies arrived in 1942.
And then his true courage came forth.
“He didn’t speak extensively about World War II,” his son said, “but over the years I got a rather complete picture.”
Still only 19, Mr. Chluski went to work for the Office of Strategic Services — forerunner of the CIA — making parachute drops into occupied France and Belgium.
“It was probably not even official,” his son said, “because he wasn’t an American citizen, but they used a lot of foreigners who could speak languages for reconnaissance missions.”
Mr. Chluski made six drops behind enemy lines, always with a single partner whom he did not know, and both with false names. “He was reluctant to describe it, but he had numerous shrapnel wounds,” his son said. “He told me once that he had dropped with a Czech partner with whom he was supposed to meet a contact in a brothel, and when they got there, the Czech saw his sister working in the brothel, which blew their cover.”
After the war, Mr. Chluski earned a degree in economics at the City of London Polytechnic and began his career as a shipping clerk. By 1968, he had become CEO of Massey Ferguson’s North American operations in Des Moines, and in 1972 joined ITT. He retired as a senior vice president in 1986, but continued as an adviser to the chairman and CEO until 1994.
Mr. Chluski, who first came to Boca Raton in the early 1970s, had been a permanent resident since 1985.
“He was an incredibly organized person,” his son recalled, “and that was his strength — keeping people and things in motion. He didn’t play golf, and he didn’t play tennis, but he traveled extensively.”
In 1938, Mr. Chluski’s father had built a new home in Warsaw, but lost it almost immediately to the German invaders. The home was later returned, his son said, and a cousin lives there today. But Mr. Chluski — the extensive traveler — did not return to his native land until 1994.
“I know why,” his son said. “He was vehemently anti-Communist. He wouldn’t return until after the Berlin Wall fell.”
In addition to his son, Mr. Chluski is survived by his wife, Dorene; his daughter-in-law, Melissa; and a granddaughter, Chloe, all of Boca Raton.
A memorial service was held Jan. 13 at St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church, where he was a long-time parishioner.
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