Jacob Dyrek in his Post Office Guard Uniform

After Leaving the Pullman factory, Jacob Dyrek worked as a guard in the Post Office.  He is shown here, in 1945, wearing his guards uniform. 

Photo provided by Mildred Dyrek

When Jacob and his family arrived on Ellis Island, a federal immigration depot for working class immigrants, a battery of test and inspections and legal paperwork began. 

 Many of those who were ill, while on Ellis Island, never recuperated.  Over thirty five-hundred immigrants died on Ellis Island during these massive migratory years around the turn of the century, fourteen hundred of these were children.  Many of these children died from exposure to the cold while being ferried to hospitals on the mainland for treatment. (Chermayeff).