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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The members of the Illinois House of
3Representatives are pleased to honor Dr. Gerhard Malcharek for
4his service to his country and his many years of practice as a
5dentist at the Murray Developmental Center in Centralia; and
 
6    WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek was born in Czechoslovakia (now
7the Czech Republic) in 1932; and
 
8    WHEREAS, In the summers of 1943 and 1944, school boys in
9seventh and eighth grades were utilized by the German Army to
10prepare fortifications for the retreating German soldiers of
11the Eastern Front; when the summers were over, the boys
12returned to their respective schools; at the age of 13, Gerhard
13Malcharek was pushed into service with the German Army, who
14lied about his age to make him enlist; he was given tank
15training and assigned as a tank driver; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek was wounded in battle when
17Soviet forces attacked his tank unit, causing shrapnel injuries
18to his right foot and left leg; and
 
19    WHEREAS, After the war, Gerhard Malcharek was sent back to
20the Soviet Union as a Prisoner of War to help the nation
21rebuild until 1947, when he returned home to Czechoslovakia;

 

 

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1his family was subsequently forced out and they immigrated to
2Germany; and
 
3    WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek was prohibited from entering
4school because of his service in the war, placing a pause on
5his lifetime dream of being a dentist; an American soldier
6befriended the young Dr. Malcharek, encouraging him to go to
7the United States, where he could go to school as much as he
8wanted; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Dr. Malcharek was 21 years old in 1951 when he
10immigrated to the United States, moving to Chicago; within 30
11days of him arriving on American soil, he enlisted in the
12United States Army as a Combat Engineer; and
 
13    WHEREAS, Dr. Malcharek served 2 tours in Korea with his
14company building bridges and bunkers, creating mine fields, and
15doing demolition work; in 1952, he was injured by shrapnel from
16a land mine explosion and received the Purple Heart; he retired
17as a Colonel; and
 
18    WHEREAS, After the Korean War, Gerhard Malcharek returned
19to Chicago and used the G.I. Bill to enroll at a junior
20college; he later transferred to Western Illinois University to
21finish his bachelor of science; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Gerhard Malcharek still dreamed of becoming a
2dentist, but faced difficulty being accepted to a dental school
3because he was a poor immigrant; refusing to be deterred, he
4took a job as a teacher at Marshall High School, near the
5University of Illinois School of Dentistry in Chicago; and
 
6    WHEREAS, In 1961, Gerhard Malcharek's persistence paid off
7and he was admitted to the University of Illinois School of
8Dentistry in Chicago; he worked nights at an area hospital to
9help pay for his education and went with little sleep between
10long nights at work and long hours in the classroom; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek's dream became a reality in
121966 when he was hired out of dental school to work for the
13recently established Murray Center in Centralia; Dr. Malcharek
14was the only dentist to care for the nearly 700 residents; Dr.
15Malcharek and his wife then moved to Irvington, where they
16still live today, and he practiced dentistry at the Murray
17Developmental Center for 27 years until his retirement in 1992;
18and
 
19    WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek also practiced at a medical
20center in Irvington 2 nights a week and on Saturdays; he also
21served as a military reserve dentist for the 102nd Army Reserve
22Command in St. Louis for 23 years; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek and his wife have 2 children
2who are also in the medical field; their daughter, Marianne
3McDaniel, is an optometrist and their son, Paul Malcharek, is a
4physician; and
 
5    WHEREAS, Dr. Gerhard Malcharek has overcome countless
6obstacles in his life but never faltered from achieving his
7dream to be a dentist; therefore, be it
 
8    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
9NINETY-NINTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we
10honor Dr. Gerhard Malcharek for his service to his country and
11living his dreams alongside his wonderful family through the
12practice of dentistry; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be
14presented to Dr. Gerhard Malcharek as a symbol of our esteem
15and respect.