Robert R. Purzycki, World War II infantryman

Robert R. Purzycki didn't talk much about his World War II infantry experiences, even though he had earned a Bronze Star and a Silver Star.

But when his daughter Dolores rented a copy of the 1998 film Saving Private Ryan, he watched it with her.

"He said it was as close to realistic" as any such film, especially because he had survived the second wave of D-Day landings on Omaha Beach.

What the film helped him recall, she said, was that as he waded toward the beach, "the water was red" with the blood of men who had died in the first wave of landings.

On Thursday, July 11, Mr. Purzycki, 96, owner of a Maple Shade tavern and then a Lindenwold tavern in the 1970s, died at his home in Sewell.

Born in Philadelphia, he began a 61/2-year career in the Army in late 1938, when he was 21.

"Back then, you could tell them where you wanted to be stationed," his daughter said. "His two brothers were stationed in Hawaii," so he joined them.

Mr. Purzycki was taught in an Army school for bakers and cooks at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu, which, after he and his brothers had left Hawaii, was bombed in the Japanese attack of Dec. 7, 1941.

He was fortunate not only in missing that attack and in surviving D-Day but also in refusing a friend's offer.

Before war broke out, that Army friend transferred to a unit in the Philippines and urged Mr. Purzycki to join him. After the Japanese invaded, the friend died during the Bataan Death March.

"He was supposed to get out of the service in October 1941," his daughter said, but Mr. Purzycki's status was frozen as tensions with Japan increased.

Though he had been trained as an Army cook, she said, "once war broke out, he was then in the infantry."

His 1945 military discharge document confirmed that he had earned a Bronze Star and a Silver Star but said nothing about how, when, or where.

"I always thought the Bronze Star was about a machine-gun nest" that he captured, she said. "I believe the Silver Star was for taking out a Tiger tank" during combat with the Nazis.

After the war, she said, Mr. Purzycki worked in the circulation department of the Newark Evening News, "in charge of the delivery boys."

From 1956 he was a door-to-door salesman for the Fuller Brush Co. in central New Jersey and was a manager in its Cherry Hill office when he left in 1969.

"He always wanted to go into the bar business," his daughter said, and he owned Antler's Bar & Grill in Maple Shade from 1969 to 1972.

"I don't know how much influence" his Army training as a cook had on his choice, she said, because "the food was primarily, like, sandwiches."

But for his family, he made "the best pie crust. It just melted in your mouth."

Mr. Purzycki had grown up in Erie with his Polish immigrant parents, and in 1972-73 he moved with some of his family to be near them and to run Bob's Tavern there.

The Lake Erie winter persuaded him to return to South Jersey, where he owned the Windmill Inn, a tavern in Lindenwold, from 1973 to 1976, and did the cooking with his wife, Rose.

He finished his career as a cook at what is now Bayside State Prison in Leesburg, N.J.

Mr. Purzycki was a member of Washington Township posts of the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars and a member of the Knights of Columbus.

Besides his daughter Dolores, he is survived by a son, Matthew; daughters Roberta Murakami, Beverly Protich, Sharon, Felicia, and Cynthia; a sister; seven grandchildren; and 11 great-grandchildren. His wife died in 2000.

A visitation was set for 10 a.m. Monday, July 15, at Ss. Peter and Paul Church, 362 Ganttown Rd., Turnersville, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there.

Donations may be made to www.caringhospice.com.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.plattmemorial.com.