IRO Escort Officer on Heintzelman, Vladas Zibas (1910-2001), and his assistants

Updated 23 January 2023

A Lithuanian refugee himself, Vladas Zibas was the International Refugee Organization's (IRO) Escort Officer for the first group travelling to Australia on the USAT General Stuart Heintzelman.  His family name appears to be a contraction of Zibinskas, used by his parents and siblings.  Here are his life and views as summarised in the Souvenir Edition, 1st Sailing to Australia. 

Profile sketch of Vladas Zibas from the Souvenir Edition

Vladas Zibas was born at Palanga, Lithuania, in 1910. He finished a Teachers' Seminary and worked as a teacher for two years, In 1931 he was enrolled in the Lithuanian Army and sent to a Military school. He remained in the Army until 194O. Last rank Captain. In 1944 he was forced to go to Germany and to work there as agricultural worker. After liberation in l945 he has been connected with Displaced Persons' Operations all the time. 

When interviewed, the Escort Officer who is the representative of IRO aboard this ship and has to hand over the transport to the Australian Government expresses his full contentment with the voyage. Bound to the same task, he has been on two similar trips before: once to Brazil and the other time to Canada. This is his third passage, the longest and the finest (and his first to Australia) — we have not met rough weather and only comparably few cases of seasickness have occurred. It is the first time that there are no families and children on the transport and the first time when there are (sic) a homogeneous group of people on the trip consisting only of Baltics.

"This makes a great difference in my work", Mr Zibas says. "It is much easier to cope with single persons, I have met very good co-operation and the passengers self-government has helped facilitate my job too."  The Escort Officer wishes to offer many thanks to all the fine co-operators who have voluntarily endeavoured to carry out the administrative work and to turn the life on board the ship pleasant. In general I wish my Baltic countrymen all the very best and a good fortune in the new country.  Start your new life and be happy.

Since Vladas Zibas, his wife and one son resettled in America in 1950, Ancestry.com provides access to public information about their later life.  Again, I have used this information to compile a family tree which interested visitors can view, perhaps after they become Registered Guests of Ancestry first.

As the home port for the Heintzelman was New York City and Vladas appears to have been attached specifically to this ship as part of its crew, Ancestry's collection of digitised Arriving Passenger and Crew Lists for the port of New York shows something of his movements between 1947 and 1950.  The first trip to Canada did not involve calling in at New York, but the first trip to Brazil has him departing Rio de Janeiro for New York on 3 September 1947.  The Heintzelman reached New York on 15 September.  There's no record of whether or not Vladas was allowed shore leave but at least he got to view the skyline of the city where he was to resettle three years later.

Four months later, he was in New York again on the Heintzelman after a voyage to Halifax, Canada.  A third visit occurred in July 1948, after the Heintzelman took refugees to Peru and Chile.  This time, the passage through the Panama Canal on the return trip to New York was recorded also.  November 1948 saw his fourth visit to New York after a voyage from Bremerhaven to Buenos Aires, Argentina.

In January 1949, Zibas visited New York for the last time as an Escort Officer, on a voyage which had originated in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.  Who knew that Europe's Displaced Persons were resettled on Caribbean islands as well as in Australia, New Zealand, and various countries of North and South America?  Or did the ship call at Port-of-Spain to re-provision for the trip to New York?

The Crew List for his 1947 trip to New York from Brazil shows an Assistant Escort Officer named Anna R Van Der Loeff.  Her name also appears on a crew list for Heintzelman trip to Australia held by the National Archives of Australia.  While the sketch of Vladas reproduced above shows a smile, I have heard nothing good nor bad from his passengers about the Escort Officer.  The women passengers, in contrast, hated Van Der Loeff for her daily inspections of their cabins and her behaviour if there was anything out of place, such as spilled face powder which had not been cleaned up.  At 5 feet 10 inches, she probably towered over most of the female passengers too.  Hate is not too strong a word for the descriptions I heard about her 50 and 60 years later!

There might have been feedback to Zibas and his employers because, on what was probably the very next voyage of the Heintzelman, to Halifax and New York in January 1948, her name had been crossed off the crew list.  It was overwriten by the name of an English woman.  The IRO may have had a preference for providing employment to the refugees because subsequent crew lists show the Assistant as an Estonian man, Herman Malvet.

Sailing the world or, at least to Australia via the Mediterranean, the Suez Canal and Colombo in what is now Sri Lanka, plus Canada, the United States, South America, the Panama Canal and even the Caribbean, must have been a dream job.  Dreams disappear as the reality of mornings take their place.  In this case, Zibas had left a wife behind in the Wentorf Displaced Persons Camp outside Hamburg in Germany.  Kazimira, known as Kaze, was looking after their son, Algirdas, only 10 years old when Vladas started his Escort Officer job but now perhaps more in need of his father's guidance as a 13-year-old.

The entrance to the Wentorf Camp
Photograph supplied to DPCamps.org by Bogdan Karasek of Canada

There's a gap in Vladas' records between the January 1949 trip from the Caribbean to New York and an August 1950 Wentorf Camp record, available through the Arolsen Archives, showing that the family of three was about to leave for the United States.  Their sponsor was the National Catholic Welfare Conference (NCWC on the records).  

They were leaving for a known address, 103-41 106th St, Ozone Park in New York City.  This may have been an apartment in a building owned by the Catholic Church and used by the NCWC for initial reception.  The former Captain of the Heintzelman, Cort M Pedersen, had lived in the suburb of Ozone Park also.  Sad to say, he had been dead for more than 20 months by the time his former crew member with family set out on a sister ship to the Heintzelman, the General WG Haan.

By 1951, the family had moved from New York to the neighbouring state of New Jersey.  As noted in an earlier entry to this blog, New Jersey was also the home state of the US Army offier who was Commander of the Heintzelman, Captain Valentine Pasvolsky.  You might have thought that they got back in touch but contacting people who have been in your life is so much easier in the 2020s than it was 70 years ago.  At least a switchboard operator in the 1950s would be willing to find someone's telephone number for you, but homes did not always have their own phones.  A search for someone's phone number was likely for business reasons or an emergency only.  You could not write a letter to someone unless you already had their address or, at least, a rough idea of it.  At the time of the 1950 Federal Census, New Jersey already had a population of 4.8 million, a bit behind Melbourne's current population.  Searching out someone for social reasons was like hunting for the proverbial needle hidden in hay.

Instead, we have Vladas Zibas becoming an evening student at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  Perhaps he was studying subjects related to his previous employment or subjects making him immediately more employable in New Jersey.  No, he was studying astronomy.  Maybe evenings on board the Heintzelman had been employed in star-gazing, especially when there were no passengers on board to be administered.

He was a good student too, making the Dean's List every year but one, which mean that he had a B average grade.  The year he wasn't on the Dean's List was when he was on the University's Honors List, meaning a B+ or better average.

Meanwhile, the only publicly available information on his employment in the United States lists him as a 'dyewkr' in New Jersey in 1956.  There is nothing on the Web to suggest that he actually worked as an astronomer after his graduation.  At least his studies meant that his photograph appeared in the Fairleigh Dickinson Yearbook for 1963.

Vladas Zibas as an astronomy student, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1963

Algirdas had beaten his father to graduation from the same institution, with a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering in 1961.  Again, and thanks to Ancestry, this means that a Yearbook photograph is available.

Algirdas Zibas, BS in Electrical Engineering, Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1961

Algirdas at this time was living at 53 Courtland Street, Paterson, probably his parents' address.  We know that Algirdas married another young Lithuanian who had been in the Wentorf Camp also and continued to live in New Jersey until perhaps the mid-1990s.

His mother, Kaze, died in August 1987 in Florida.  A public record indicates that he too had moved to Florida by 1995.  By then he was aged in his 60s and perhaps thinking of keeping his widowed father company.  Vladas had been living in Palm Beach, Florida, since at least 1985.

Two years after Kaze died, Vladas re-married to another Lithuanian-born refugee who, for her part, had been widowed for more than 30 years.  Vladas' death occurred more than 11 years later, in June 2001.  He had reached the impressive age of 91, outliving his three siblings by at least 15 years.  His only know employment in the US, in a factory where threads or fabrics were dyed, does not seem to have had a negative impact on his health.

Algirdas may well be still living and the Web indicates that there are more descendants.  We wish them all well, since their forebear, Vladas, looked after our family members well on their trip from devastated Germany to Australia.

Captain Wayne H Stockdale (1919-2005), Heintzelman's Surgeon

Updated 23 January 2023

The third Captain, and the most junior in age, was the ship's Surgeon, Wayne H Stockdale.  Here is how the authors of the Souvenir Edition, 1st Sailing to Australia described him.

Captain Wayne H. Stockdale, M.C., was born near Zanesville, Ohio, on 13th September 1919, educated in public schools, attended Muskinguve (sic) College, New Concord, Ohio and received Medical Degree from the University of Louisville in 1945.  Interned at Grace Hospital, Detroit Michigan.  Entered Army in July 1946.  Married — no children.

Captain says: "The health of the passengers has been far above the average.  The main complaint has been the heat which has been hard for us to bear, especially those of us who prefer and are used to cold and snow.

"This is my first contact with the peoples of Europe.  I am very impressed with the Baltic people.  I am sure, if the rest of the peoples of Europe were of the same quality and character as those which are aboard this ship, the world would be a much greater place.  This is my first trip across the equator and I am anticipating my first visit to a foreign country (port of Bremerhaven excluded).

"I wish to express my appreciation to the passengers for their co-operation in every respect.  They have kept the ship exceptionally clean and neat.  I am sure you will find Australia a hospitable place and success will be yours within a short time."

A drawing of Captain Stockdale, MD rather than MC, accompanied the written profile.

Most of Captain Stockdale's earlier and later life is summarised in an obituary which appeared in the Raleigh, North Carolina, News and Observer on 29 November 2005.

He grew up in Philo, Ohio, a village 10 miles along the Muskingum River from the city and Muskingum County seat of Zanesville.  His education was as reported in the Souvenir Edition.  His internship at Grace Hospital not only ensured his medical qualifications, it also led him to his wife.  Rita Bernice Truesdale, who preferred to use her middle name, was a graduate of the School of Nursing in Detroit and worked as an anaesthetist at the Grace Hospital.

Wayne H Stockdale in 1945
Source:  Times Recorder (Zanesville, OH) via Newspapers.com

His medical education appears to have been sponsored by the US Government in return for his joining the military after graduation.  Having been commissioned as a First Lieutenant in the Army upon graduation in June 1945 and married in March 1946, Wayne Stockdale embarked on his Army life in July that year.  Children would have to wait.

We know nothing about Wayne's Army career apart from his trip to and from Australia on the Heintzelman, and his discharge in June 1948.  We do know that his medical career continued, with surgical residencies at two hospital followed by his own surgical private practice in Smithfield, North Carolina, between 1952 and 1970.

He gave up his private practice to run the Emergency Department of the Wayne Memorial Hospital in Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina for more than 20 years.  Even after his retirement in 1990, he continued to offer his services to the Wayne Memorial Hospital as a physican's consultant.

His wife, Berenice, and he had three daughters, born between 1951 and 1955.  Sadly, Berenice died in 1991 at the comparatively young age of 70, leaving him a widower for the next 14 years.

An older Wayne Stockdale
Source:  Ancestry.com

We have to hope that he told his daughters about his trip to Australia in 1947 with the first group of World War II refugees to travel there, and that now they can realise that he played a role in part of Australian history. 

SOURCES

Once again I have created an Ancestry tree for Wayne Harrop Stockdale and his immediate family.  You may have to be a Registered Guest at Ancestry.com to see it, though.  I hope not.  The sources I have used come from Ancestry and two of its affiliates, Fold3 and Newspapers.com.  They can be accessed there, although the obituary is available publicly online in two places.  The link to one is above while the second is here.

Transport Commander, Captain Pasvolsky (1898-1980)

Updated 16 January 2023

The Souvenir Edition, 1st Sailing to Australia, tells us that, while Captain Pedersen sailed the ship, another Captain, in the US Army, ran life for its passengers.  He was Valentine Pasvolsky of Lakewood, New Jersey.  The Souvenir Edition has this to say about him:

Captain Valentine Pasvo1sky has been in the US Army for quite a long time and plans to remain for some time more. He has been with the USAT "General Heintzelman" since it was assigned to the DP program, prior to that he was on troop transport duty, Although a registered Civil Engineer, at the present time his job is Transport Commander, a position comparable to that of Army Post Commander, the (USAT) “General Heintzelman" his military post. A resident of Lakewood, New Jersey, he is married and has four children, two boys and two girls. The Captain is quite familiar with all the States and many foreign countries. For Australia, however, in common with passengers, he is heeded for the first time. On frequent occasions the Captain has been in close contact with Baltic people — Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, and speaks most highly of them. In speaking of the group now aboard, he is highly pleased with the co-operation shown in maintaining order, cleanliness, and everything (else) that makes for an all round pleasant trip (and) extends his best wishes to all in your new endeavours and new homes.

Valentine Pasvolsky as portrayed in the Souvenir Edition

Captain Pasvolsky was the man who supplied the headline for the West Australian newspaper's report on 29 November 1947 of the arrival of the Heintzelman. "'The Pick of the Bunch' from Europe" led the report.

Captain Pasvolsky explained that the ship had been under US Army discipline:  he was in charge of the passengers and a US Army staff of 12.  This was the fifth trip the Heintzelman with displaced persons from Europe, the other trips being to Brazil and Canada.

"These people are the pick of the bunch", Pasvolsky said. "Their conduct has been excellent, their discipline has been remarkable, their physique is good, they are clean, and generally their educational standard seems high."

Once again, it's Ancestry.com which provides much more information about Captain Pasvolsky.  Rather than detailing Ancestry's multiple sources below, I have created a Pasvolsky family tree on Ancestry.  This tree should be accessible at https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/tree/180672966/family/familyview?cfpid=362349000400, although you may need to set up a free Ancestry.com Registered Guest account to view it.

Valentine Pasvolsky on 20 November 1948,
at the wedding of his younger daughter, the first of his children to marry
Source:  Ancestry.com

Valentine Mikhailovich Pasvolsky had been born in Ukraine in 1898.  His parents had migrated with their 8 children in 1905, reaching New York the day before Valentine's seventh birthday.

His family had lived in New Jersey from at least 1917, with Valentine marrying there in 1922.  In contrast to his immigrant status, his wife was a Mayflower descendent.  She was Ellen Isabel Stoughten, known as Nellie.  Together they actually had 5 children, with one of the 3 girls dying in infancy.  Although the children were described as "two boys and two girls" in the Souvenir Edition, the oldest was already aged 24 at the time of our Heintzelman voyage, while the youngest was aged 18.  That is to say that they were of a similar age to many of the refugee passengers of whom Valentine was in charge.

Captain Valentine Pasvolsky (standing, centre) with his family,
probably at home in New Jersey, possibly taken in 1944
Source: Ancestry.com

Captain Pasvolsky's wife Nellie with their oldest child, Dick,
probably taken on the same day as the previous photo,
with Nellie perhaps in Red Cross uniform;
the background may well be their New Jersey home
Source:  Ancestry.com

Valentine did stay in the US Army for another 12 years, in fact, retiring at the age of 60 in 1959, with the rank of Major.  It was then that his second career as a collector could flourish.

He had been collecting North American Indian wumpum and medals since early in his Army life.  In the course of this, he had acquired related coins as well.  A New Jersey tercentenary exhibition in 1964 earned him first prize for his display of early American money.

He was highly regarded by fellow numismatists for his willingness to help them organise and to share information.  In 1974, Val Pasvolsky received a Numismatic Ambassador award from the American Numismatic Association. 

In 1975, the Utah Numismatic Society awarded him a plaque in recognition that his display for them marked the 50th American State in which he had exhibited.  Also in 1975, the cover of the first issue of the Garden State Numismatic Association Journal honoured him (Garden State being the nickname for New Jersey as well as the Australian state of Victoria).  Current and past officials of the American Numismatic Association attended a testimonial dinner organised in his honour that year to present him with a medal of merit.

His collecting extended to North and South American Indian art.  Val began exhibiting his collection at his home, calling it the Indian Village Museum and Trading Post of Lakewood. The Museum occupied three rooms on the ground floor.  Val enjoyed sharing his vast knowledge with his visitors. He also exhibited select items from his collection at various events, often giving presentations donned in full Indian regalia.

Inside the Indian Village Museum and Trading Post of Lakewood
Source: Heritage Auctions Website

After his death in 1980, the collection was shared between one of his sons and a daughter.  The daughter sent her share of the collection to auction in 2013.  The son's share of the collection is on sale as I write, through a Texas company called Heritage Auctions.

This Sioux boy's beaded shirt from the Pasvolsky Collection
was sold for USD 75,000 in 2013
Source: Heritage Auctions Website

Of Val's 4 children, the eldest, Richard, became notable as a parks, environmental and recreation educator who worked in a number of the northern States of America. His brother worked in real estate and one sister worked as a nurse for much of her life.

Val's father is recorded as working as an editor, perhaps of Russian language publications.  Another son, Leo, was an economist, journalist and public servant.  As a personal assistant to the then US Secretary of State during World War II, Leo Paslovsky is credited with writing the final version of the Charter of the United Nations. 

ALL SOURCES listed on my Ancestry.com pages for members of the family.