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For Your Freedom and Ours
by Arthur Chrenkoff
There is an old
Polish motto that says “For your freedom and ours.” Many who live in advanced
Western societies take their security and prosperity for granted. Poles, who’ve
experienced so little of either over the past two centuries, are much more aware
of how precious and precarious freedom is.
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On V-E Day say 'dziekuje' to the Poles
by Gilbert J. Mros
Sixty years ago, the world celebrated Victory in Europe, and on May 8 (V-E Day) we remember those who fought to preserve the freedom that we now enjoy.
The United States, Great Britain and the Soviet Union provided most of the Allied forces during World War II, but few people realize that the fourth-largest contributor was Poland.
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Gen. Thaddeus Kosciuszko (1756-1817).
Commissioned by the Continental Congress in the Continental Corps of
Engineers, Kosciuszko designed and built fortifications along the
Delaware and Hudson Rivers. He designed and built the first
fortifications at West Point on the Hudson River. Today that is the site of the US Army Military Academy. In his "Last Will and
Testament", penned on his departure from the United States, Gen.
Kosciusko appointed Thomas Jefferson as its executor and authorized
him to use any monies derived from the sale of his properties to be
used "in purchasing Negroes from among his own or any other and
giving them liberty in my name." Thus, Koscuiszko, a Pole, struck
the first blow against slavery in the United States. |
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Capt. Alexander Bielawski. A Polish
émigré and seasoned soldier, deported from his native land by its
Russian occupiers, joined the Union Army at Washington, DC. He rose swiftly to the rank of Captain and died in battle in the State of
Missouri in 1861. |
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Gen. Joseph Karge. While a Lt. Col. in
the First Cavalry of New Jersey he was wounded at the Battle of
Brandy Station. Promoted to Col, he was placed in command of New
Jersey's Second Cavalry. By the end of the Civil War he was
promoted to General and made the Supreme Commander of the entire New
Jersey Cavalry. At the end of the war Gen. Karge, a linguistic
expert, went on to head the Foreign Languages School at Princeton
NJ. He died in 1892 and was laid to rest at Princeton NJ.
The Dept of NJ PLAV USA holds an annual memorial service at his
gravesite. |
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Sgt. John J. Czajka, of Milwaukee WI.
The first American to give his life in battle in France in World War
I. He was a member of Company A of the Us Army's 26thg Infantry.
He was killed white leading a patrol into enemy territory on
November 13, 1917. Originally buried in France, his remains were
returned to the United States and reinterred in the St. Albert
Cemetery, at Milwaukee WI. |
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Col. Cedric E. Fauntleroy. While not a
Polish-American but fluent in the Polish language, Col Fauntleroy
was placed in command of the "Polish Escadrille", a US Army unit
comprised solely of Polish and Polish-American volunteers. This
unit was cited for "admirable discipline, obedience to its officers,
loyalty, valor and courage". Many of its members were an integral
part of the original three organizations that evolved into the
Polish Legion of American Veterans, USA. Col. Fauntleroy was among
the first Honorary Members of our organization and did attend and
participate in its early National Conventions. |
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Sgt. Michael B. (Eliasz) Ellis. Born at
St. Louis, MO, in 1892, Sgt. Ellis was a member of the Us Army First
Division's 28th Infantry. During
the fighting in World War I the stocky 5' 5" twenty year old Sgt. Ellis became the
Polish-American version of the famed Tennessee Sgt. Alvin C. York.
He and his war exploits were immortalized in a series of articles
entitled "America's Heroes of the Great War" penned by the 26th
President of the United States Theodore Roosevelt for the "Chicago
Herald-Examiner". He was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor
"for his leadership and spirit in battle (which at time included hand
to hand combat), his fearless attacks on machine gun nests and his
single handed capture of over 60 German prisoners." |
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First Lt. Michael Komorowski. One of the
two 1st Lts. that in a humble cottage in the Village of Hawthorne
IL set forth the plans to organize the "Alliance of Polish-American
Veterans of World War I" in the late summer of 1920. First Lt.
Komorowski was a hero of the "Battle of Hemel Woods" in
France. For his actions there he was awarded Great Britain's
highest military award "the Victoria Cross" conferred upon him
personally by Great Britain's King George V in 1918. |
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Pfc Frank P. Witek, USMC, of Chicago, IL.
Posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his
heroism during the battle for the Island of Guam "for conspicuous
gallantry far and above the call of duty." |
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Pfc. Stephen R. (Grziegorzewski) Gregg, US
Army, 36th Division, of Bayonne NJ. Gregg, earned a
battlefield promotion to 2nd LT and was awarded the Congressional Medal
of Honor "for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidly at the risk of
life above and beyond the call of duty". He is a PLAV USA member
and still resides in his native Bayonne NJ. |
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Col. Frank S. "Gabby"
Gabreski, USAF, Oil City, PA. Served in both WWII and in
Korea. Col Gabreski, a highly decorated Veteran, was America's top
fighter pilot in Europe, shooting down 30 plus enemy planes. He
re-achieved "ace status" in Korea by downing six Russian MIG fighters.
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PLAV USA Post #158 at
Miami FL is named in his honor.
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Capt. Edward C. Krzyzowski of the Us
Army's 2nd Infantry Regiment, an Illinoisan, was killed in action on
September 3, 1951. Capt. Krzyzowski was posthumously awarded the
Congressional Medal of Honor for providing cover that allowed his
unit to escape communist encirclement. |
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Rev. Monsignor Thaddeus F. Malamowski rose to the rank of
General when appointed to head the Armed forces Chaplaincy
Services by President Richard M. Nixon. He was the
first Roman Catholic priest and first Polish-American to be
awarded this position.
Father Malanowski served as the National Chaplain of the PLAV USA from November 1987 to November 1993.
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Lieutenant Colonel Matt Urban
was awarded 29 medals for valor in World War II. Three more than war hero Audie
Murphy. The 1989 Guinness Book of World Records documents Colonel Urban as the most decorated soldier in US history.
He
waited a long time to get the nation's highest military decoration,
the Medal of Honor. "When I came home I never thought about war,"
he said in 1988. "That's why the medal was 35 years late. . . . I
just never pursued it." But a friend did, and in 1980 Col Urban got
the medal. Perhaps more amazing than the Medal of Honor were the
seven Purple Hearts -- one for each wound -- Colonel Urban earned
in the war. By the time he hit the beach at Normandy, France, he'd
been wounded three times in North Africa. The Germans nicknamed him
the Ghost. "I guess it was because I kept coming back," he said.
While still recovering from a leg wound he performed the act that
earned the Medal of Honor.
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