Jupe (ePub)

Jupe was a nickname bestowed on a larger-than-life individual by the name of John J. Judefind. He received that honor from his classmates. Jupe was a spectacular student/athlete who won a small, silver statuette as the first great athlete at his beloved school, St. James High School in Chester, Pennsylvania. He won All-Delco honors in football and earned a full scholarship to LaSalle College in Philadelphia even though baseball was his best sport. He was on the brink of becoming a major league player having been granted a well-earned tryout by the Philadelphia Athletics, when the surprise attack by Japan at Pearl Harbor changed his plans. Jupe left LaSalle and joined the US. Army in November of 1942. An Army recruiter talked him into joining the Eighty-Second Division of the 508th Airborne Infantry Regiment, where he was promoted to the rank of platoon sergeant. Jupe soon showed everyone that he was a head above the crowd and was thought to be the poster boy for the 508. He jumped out of an airplane on D-Day and into the arms of history. He put his love of God, country, and the people who surrounded him ahead of his own dreams and aspirations. In this story, Jupe showed us what it was like to be a man of principle and integrity. Follow along on his journey that lasted just twenty-one years even though his connection to us has passed the realms of time.