HONORING A GREAT AMERICAN HERO AT GABRESKI AIRPORT. After laying a wreath on the memorial stone in honor of U.S. Air Ace Francis S. Gabreski, Polish American Congress committee members and guests pause and reflect on his accomplishments. Shown here are:
Col. Gabreski’s daughters, Frances and Patricia. In rear (left to right) are: Frank Milewski, president of the PAC’s Downstate N.Y. Division, Richard Romanski, committee chairman; Hon. Conrad Teller, mayor of Westhampton Beach and Chet Szarejko, co-chairman.
Westhampton, N.Y. .. The Downstate New York Division of the Polish American Congress marked the 10th anniversary of the January 31, 2002 death of Col. Francis S. Gabreski with a solemn wreath-laying ceremony at the memorial stone in the Long Island airport named after him.
This January, 2001 photo shows U.S. Air Ace Col. Francis S. Gabreski (left), at the annual post-Christmas observance (Oplatek) the Downstate New York Division of the Polish American Congress held at the Polonaise Terrace in Brooklyn. The Congress used the occasion to also celebrate the late Col. Gabreski’s 82nd birthday. Pictured with him are: PAC President Frank Milewski (center) and Vice President Chet Szarejko.
Brooklyn, N.Y. .. The Downstate New York Division of the Polish American Congress announced it will hold a wreath-laying ceremony at the Francis S. Gabreski Airport in Westhampton, Long Island on Sunday, January 29th at 1:00 p.m. to honor the memory of America’s top World War II Air Ace in Europe for whom the airport is named. It will mark the 10th anniversary of his death in 2002.
Brooklyn, N.Y. .. In America’s Polish community, Christmas is more than just one day. It’s a season. They don’t merely sing about the twelve days of Christmas. They observe them.
When the Downstate New York Division of the Polish American Congress holds its annual Christmas party – the “Oplatek” – it customarily does it on the twelfth day, Epiphany Sunday.
Epiphany Sunday commemorates the visit the Wise Men from the East paid to the “Little Town of Bethlehem.”
Deviating a bit from the script this year, however, one of the visitors who came to the Polish American Congress “Oplatek” was someone from the West. The Northwest, to be precise.
Michael Preisler, Auschwitz #22213: “The Germans created and operated Auschwitz as a death factory but a lot of American media call it a Polish camp, not a German camp.”
Brooklyn, N.Y. … One of the 20th century’s most tragic dates was September 1, 1939 when Nazi Germany started World War II by invading Poland and plunging the world into a blood bath that lasted six long and cruel years.
Ms. Cosby (left) is shown as she submits her application for membership in the Downstate N.Y. Division of the Polish American Congress to President Frank Milewski (right) and Andrew Kaminski, co-chair of the Children of Polish Christian Holocaust Survivors, himself the son of an Auschwitz survivor.
Brooklyn N.Y… Flag Day, June 14th, is that special day intended to remind Americans they should honor their country by displaying its flag from their homes and public places.
When Polish Americans raise the Stars and Stripes on Flag Day, many of them can’t help recalling what that date in 1940 symbolizes for some of their families or relatives who lived in German-occupied Poland in World War II.
The occupation was not yet ten months old when Hitler and his Nazis opened the gates of Auschwitz to begin their barbaric orgy of torture and murder that was to last there for nearly five long and cruel years.
Flushing, N.Y...It was hard to realize that the elderly and attractive Polish lady speaking at New York City's Queens College observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day once had her face disfigured by a kick from a German SS guard while she was a prisoner in a World War II concentration camp.
Wanda Wos-Lorenc was only 16 when it happened. Even to this day, she considers herself very lucky because it could have been a bullet instead of a boot. That was what so many Polish Christians who tried helping Jews were likely to get from the Germans.
Shown with Mr. Daum are Chet Szarejko (left), vice president and Frank Milewski, president of the Downstate New York Division of the Congress.
New York, N.Y. ... A recent commemoration at the Polish Consulate in New York City gave the Polish American Congress the opportunity to meet and greet Menachem Daum (center), the producer and director of the film, "Hiding and Seeking."
Brooklyn, N.Y. … In August 1944, Jadwiga Chrusciel was in Poland and was a member of the Polish Girl Scouts (Harcerze). Her country had been invaded in 1939 and remained under German occupation ever since. Ms. Chrusciel is shown here as guest of honor at the annual post-Christmas party (Oplatek) of the Downstate N.Y. Division of the Polish American Congress at Brooklyn’s Polonaise Terrace on January 9th.
In August, 1944, Poland’s civilian resistance organization (Armia Krajowia) launched what came to be known as The Warsaw Uprising (The Rising) against the German Army that held the city of Warsaw captive for five long and cruel years.
Brooklyn, N.Y. … Rev. Marek Sobczak (center) expresses a prayer of thanksgiving for the Catholic Church’s beatification last June of Poland’s SOLIDARITY priest, Father Jerzy Popieluszko. A statue to his memory is seen in the background.
Participating in the commemorative ceremony conducted at Greenpoint’s McCarren Park are Michael Pajak, president of the New York Chapter of the John Paul II Foundation (left) and Frank Milewski, president of the Downstate N.Y. Division of the Polish American Congress. The Sea League of America, Liga Morska, provided the honor guard (in rear).
Shown with Mr. Kolodziejek and Mr. Preisler are (from left) Frank Milewski, president of the Downstate N.Y. Division of the Congress and Rev. Vlad Kubrak, vicar at St. Matthias.