A long-time DVB member, John Polachek, died on May 24. For those who knew him, he was funny, kind, and always ready for a good time. Back in “the day,” he was a fixture at “Country Night” at National AALAS meetings and did a mean two-step.

John served in Vietnam from 1968 to 1971 in the Army 101st Airborne as a line chief for helicopter maintenance. According to one person who knew him well, John learned to fly a helicopter the hard way—he was dropped into the field to fix one, heard the ping of bullets on the body, and decided that it was ready to fly and flew out of there. During service calls, he often shared stories of repairs done under fire. He was a licensed helicopter pilot and built and flew his own RotorWay helicopter.

John owned Eastern Biomedical Services. Before that, he partnered with Ed Linke to found TriState Biomedical. Before striking out on his own, he provided service for PAM, Inc. Bill Mitchell, the owner of PAM, was John’s Boy Scout leader.

John was a father of two, with eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2013 and died of complications from a fall at age 71. He was interred with military honors at Washington Crossing National Cemetery on June 4.