YPG employee to celebrate 90th birthday, 39th year on job

  It takes a work force of diverse skills and backgrounds to make Yuma Proving Ground function smoothly. Among them is a man some say is the oldest nonelected government employee around.

 Combat automotive test director Anthony Bereznuk will celebrate his 39th year at YPG on Nov. 20 and his 90th birthday two months later.

  A native of Hartford, Conn., Bereznuk learned the machinist trade prior to serving for three years as a radioman in the 18th Tank Battalion of the 8th Armored Division in World War II. 

  "We were originally scheduled to be deployed to the Pacific Theater, but it changed," he said. "I spent all my time in Europe."

  Although he spent the majority of his time operating radio equipment, he had other interesting experiences in the service. He was responsible for guarding German prisoners of war, whom he made chop wood for the local population.

  Knowing a Polish-Russian dialect enabled him to eat dinner with a Russian general in a jointly occupied Austrian village on May 1, 1945. He also saw famed U.S Gen. George S. Patton on several occasions from a distance.

  After the war, Bereznuk worked for a firm constructing large machines in Connecticut, where he became manager of the maintenance department.

  "It was a good job," Bereznuk said.  "But they hired a new vice president and we didn't hit it off. Nothing I could do would please that man."

  Having visited California and Arizona on business trips, Bereznuk and his wife, Blanche, relocated to Yuma to invest in motels and other business ventures, including a clothing store and beauty parlor. It was a customer of his wife's beauty parlor who recommended that he apply for work at YPG.

  His first day of work was Nov. 20, 1969. Richard Nixon had been president for 10 months, the first Apollo moon landing had occurred four months earlier and nearly half a million American troops were fighting in Vietnam.

  "I liked it," he said of his first impression of YPG. "Owning a business is a lot of headaches. This is a much better deal."

  He started in the environmental division but became a test director after impressing manager Graham Stullenbarger with his cool performance after an accidental explosion of a pallet of artillery shells in the late 1970s.

  "It blew up a building," recalled Stullenbarger, currently the chief of the natural environment test office. "When I arrived, the bushes were on fire. There were firemen and military policemen scrambling around, and unexploded ordnance scattered on the ground.

  "Only one man wasn't panicking: Tony. He had a clipboard and calmly gave me a report of the situation. I was very impressed."

  Bereznuk began as a tester of artillery shells, dropping them from eight feet at a variety of angles. For many months, he worked two full-time shifts. Over the years, he has tested the M1 Abrams tank, Bradley fighting vehicles, the Light Armored Vehicle and the M109A6 Paladin howitzer.

  Today, Bereznuk conducts safety tests on a wide variety of combat vehicles. He believes that while YPG has grown significantly during his time here, the basic mission - testing equipment for soldiers in the field - is the same as it was in 1969.

  Although he does not have a college degree, Bereznuk is an avid proponent of higher education.

  "Go to school. I can't say that loud enough or true enough. If you have to go to school for 20 years, do it. It pays off."

  Bereznuk is contemplating retirement, but not slowing down. 

  "If I do retire, I'll go get a job at Lowe's. I'm not kidding. I wouldn't last long around the house all the time."

  The proving ground, however, still needs him.

  "Tony is one of the hardest-working people who've ever been here," said Stullenbarger. "He's done a great deal of good work over the years."