Born 6 December 1936, the son of Hungarian Immigrants, John Szilvasy was enlisted in the Army from 1954 to 1957. Following the Lord's light, he was Ordained by the Hungarian Reformed Church and rejoined the Army as a Chaplain in January 1966. He served during the Vietnam War and was stationed in Vietnam, Fort Bragg, NC; Germany; Fort Leonard Wood, MO; Fort Hood, TX; Seoul, Korea; William Beaumont Medical Center at Fort Bliss, TX; and, Yuma, AZ.
John’s lifelong companion was his wife Linda, and they had one son, Kevin. John earned two Master’s Degrees and a Doctorate. He attended Yale for special training as a Hospital Chaplain. He was an Ordained Minister and Member in Good standing with the Evangelical Association of Reformed and Congressional Christian Churches.
John served with the 3rd Special Forces, JAN – AUG 1966; Special Forces Training Group SEP-DEC 1966; 3rd BDE, 25th INF Division Vietnam 1967; 14th Armored Cav Regt Germany 1968-1971; 1st Cavalry and the 2nd Armored Divisions 1971-1973; Engineer Command Fort Leonard Wood, MO 1974-1978. Army Hospital, Korea, 1978-1979 then William Beaumont Army Hospital, Fort Bliss, TX 1979-1983; Military Intelligence Command, 1984; Headquarters, Fort Bliss, TX 1985-1989; and finally, serving at Yuma Providing Ground, AZ in 1990 before retiring in June 1990.
John served as Chaplain for SFA Chapter 9 for 30 years. In that time, virtually all the marriages that took place in the El Paso SF Chapter and many from the Benavidez-Patterson 82nd All Airborne Chapter were performed by John. He also wrote a near monthly column for years titled "Chaplains Corner" which proved by the huge number of readers to be the overwhelming favorite of Chapter IX website visitors.
On 11 September 2014 John was interviewed by the American Red Cross at Fort Bliss, Texas for the Library of Congress American Folklife Center’s Veterans History Project. A DVD was made and is still available. At the 2018 El Paso SFA National Convention, John shared Chaplain duties for the week with COL (RET) Vahan Sipantzi.
To send a memorial in John’s name, there is a legal group that works for defending Christian religious freedom. It was John's favorite cause.
Alliance Defending Freedom/ADF Foundation
15100 N. 90th St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85260
480 388-8023
I am a historian/author, currently working on a compilation of all awards of the Silver Star and higher to all chaplains in history. If anyone can provide me the citation for Chaplain Szilvasy's Silver star, please email me at cdouglassterner@gmail.com or call (719) 281-7118. Thank you.
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