St Marys High School - Salute Yearbook (New Baltimore, MI)

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leader Tvdaq Self-made men and women who came up the hard way, the present leaders and spokesmen of the Polo- nia speak and act with the confi- dence that comes from the convic- tion, born of splendid achievement. that they have a valuable heritage to maintain and a rich contribution to make to their American home- land. Champion of Polish-American co- operation is aggressive Charles Roz- marek, chairman of the Polish- American Congress. A former presi- dent of the Polish National Al- liance, the largest Polonian organi- zation, he now heads the most in- fluential and vocal body in Polish American circles. Auxiliary to Cardinal Mooney and presiding judge of the archdiocesan matrimonial court in Detroit, self- effacing Pennsylvania-born Bishop Stephen Woinicki holds the spir- itual leaidership vacated by the late patriarchal Bishop Rhode. As chair- man of numerous crganizations and treasurer of The Polish Relief Fund, he directs the several million dollar relief action of Polonian federated groups. White-haired, lanky Chicagoan, John Joseph Olejniczak since 1941 heads the Polish Roman Catholic Union, the oldest and second largest Polish-American federated society, which sponsors and supports the Archives and Museum in Chicago and annually assists the educational institutions at Orchard Lake, Mich. Educator and relief-worker, so- cially-minded Honorata Wolowska is president of the Polish Women's Alliance of America and board member of nearly every important centralized committee in the Polo- nia. Quiet, soft-spoken Bishop Stani- slav Bona of Green Bay, born and educated in Chicago and in Rome, was professor of languages and editor of a Polish weekly before his consecration to the episcopate in 1932. His tact and diplomacy were largely responsible for the success of the first convention held in Buffalo in 1943 by the Polish-American Congress. Trim, precise Francis X. Swietlrk. dean of Marquette Law School, is president of the Polish-American Council founded in 1939. Though remaining largely in the back- ground, he nevertheless wields a real influence among Polish Amer- icans. Of Wisconsin and Pennsylvania background, head of the seminary, college and high school at Orchard Lake, the oldest Polonian institu- tions of higher learning, Rt. Rev. Msgr. Edward Szumal occupies 2 position of tremendous trust not only for the present but also for the future of the Polonia. Foremost Polish-American orator. Congressman Alvin O'Konski cf Wisconsin, former university profes- sor, is today the most outspoken exponent of Polonian views on cur- rent political affairs. From the steerage to a university professorship in 11 years-that is the story of Stephen Mierzwa QMizwaJ, a peasant boy who once taught economics at Drake and now heads the Kosciuszko Foundation which he organized for intercultural exchange between Poland and America. Last but by no means least is retiring, scholarly Miecislav Hai- man, leading Polish-American his- torian, co-founder and guiding gen- ius of the P.R.C.U. Archives and Museum, the greatest storehouse and repository of Polish and Polo- nian achievements, records and rei- ics in the Western Hemisphere. Congressman John Dingell and John Lesinski, board member of the Federal Reserve System Miecislav Szymczak, Federal Judge Arthur Koscinski and radio orator Fr. Jus- tin Figas, 0. F. M. C. are also in- fluential Polish Americans. , I n I arzan . olafrzlnff Bishop Bona Bishop Woznicki C. Rozmarek M. Haiman 9 sf' ab., 4' .JSP ,. V . J. Olejniczak J' ' xx ? , . . .-:fir --- A. O'Konski S. Mierzwa Msgr. Szumal F. Swietlik H. Wolowska

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. ' flfuym wwi . . Lit f W' ' w w ' cw Q 0 Onldn it wal , ,V ff. 0 71 yy 1-'r. Moczygemba Fr. Dabrowski Mother Monica P. Kiolbassa A. Schreiber ffm terdaq Not lone meteors but ma,ter- moulders were the Polish-American leaders of yesterday-men and iso- men with a profound sense of so- :-ial responsibility who welded the teeming immigrant masses into a highly productive cultural unit, the POLONIA AMERYKANSKA. Intrepid Fr. Leopold Moczygemba of the Conventual Franciscans brought the first group of Polish settlers to Panna Maria, starting thc great migration of Polish peasants to America. Rev. Joseph Dabrowski, printer. wrlter, spiritual director and found- cr of the first seminary for Pol sh American priests, made perhaps the greatest individual contribution to Polonian cultural development. Mother M. Monica Sybilska, or- ganizer extraordinary, was the guid- ing genius behind the phenomenal growth of the Felician Sisterhood in its first decades in America. The first self-made Polish Amer- ican is perhaps the best designa- tion for Peter Kiolbassa, immigrant, Civil War captain, teacher in Texas, and first political leader in Chic- ago's rising Polonia. Bushy-bearded Anthony Schreiber was a dynamic force in the hey-day of the Polish National Alliance be- fore World War I and founder of the influential DZIENNIK ZWIAZ- KOWY. The first Polish-American Cath- olic bishop and for years the most influential Polonian leader was Bishop Paul Peter Rhode of Chicago and Green Bay, Wis. From immigrant to Illinois state teasurer was the leap made by John Smulski, cutstanding World War I Polonian financier, organizer and lay leader. Energetic, social-minded Stepha- nia Chmielinska was the organizer and first president of the Pol sh Women's Alliance and founder of the weekly GLOS POLEK. Called the Father of the Polish Army in the United States , Dr. Teofil Starzynski, Falcon president. played an important role during World War I as an army organizer. Black-robed Very Rev. Hyacinth Fudzinski laid the foundation for the growth of the Polish Conven- tual Franciscans in America and organized the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph. Others who deserve at least a brief mention, even though lack of space prevents insertion of their pictures. are: the Resurrection'st Father Vincent Barzynski, the most influential figure in the early re- ligious history of the Chicago Polo- nia: Fr. John Pitass, religious and civic patriarch of Buffalog Fr. Ven- ceslav Kruszka, stormy petrel of the Polish-American clergy, writer, his- torian and leading exponent of the Polish version of Cahenslyism: Vla- dislav Dyniewicz, Chicago publisher. whose millions of Polish pamphlets and books reached into every corner of the Polonia: Casimir Zychliriski. father of the Polish Falcons in America and several times presi- dent of the Polish National Al- liance: Stanislav Osada, journalfst, historian, social reformer, and one of the keenest and most intelligent observers of Polish-American de- velopment. All these and still many others wait. for future Polish-American biographers to set down in writing their manifold contributions to the building of the Polonia and Amer- ica. T . 1 . 7mtl'llll1 CSZKUIIILIA fi'- J. U 4. il, . Bishop Rhode T. Starzynski S. Chmielinska. J. Smulsl-:i Fr. Fudzinski

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It. B. Godlewski Pvlialc n the Kettle ?rvnt Americans of Polish origin have splendidly upheld the tradition of hoth the Polish and American peo- ple. Their record on the field of battle is a brilliant chapter of American history , wrote Thomas E. Dewey, Governor of New York in l945. This record goes back beyond De- cember 7, 1941, to an earlier day of infamy , September l, 1939, when Hitler's legions blitzkrieged their way into Poland. Among the Polish Americans who flocked to the col- ors the best known is Lieutena it Hronislav Godlewski of Chicagn. Only 17, he was rejected by the American army, but managed to join the Polish Air Force. Today. armless, Godlewski is one of the few men wearing three national decorations for bravery - Polish. British and American. Miecislaus Haiman. leading Pol- ish-American historian, estimates that about one millon Americans of Polish descent served in the Amer- ican armed forces. Five attained the rank of general: Joseph E, Ba- rzynski, West Point graduate and Dean of Polish-American service- men: John Rataj, John Wisniewski. Matyka and Krygier. The Marine Corps was liberally sprinkled with Andrzejewskis, Karasiewiczs and Modzelewskis. The Army and Navy had their share of skis and wiczs. And so did the WACS. SPARS and WAVES. In every theatre of War crosses mark the graves of Polish-American boys. In Pearl Harbor lies Pfc. Rob- ert Niedzwiecki of Grand Rapids. one ot' the war's first fatalities. On Brig. Gen. J. Barzynski Lt. Col. F. Gabreski The Sadowskis Guadalcanal rests Marine Corp. Stanley Narkon of Long Island. In a. German cemetery next to Gen. George S. Patton lies Detroit-born Pfc. John Przywara. In the mid- Pacific sleeps Sgt. Alexander T. Kaezmarczyk of Torrington, Conn.. who 'died on the twelfth night of Capt. Rickenbacker's famous adven- ture. Ever aggressive, Polish Americans led in the attack. The first Amer- ican soldier to step on Sicily was Sgt. Joseph Parylak: the first to land at Anzio was Pvt. Walter P. Krzysztofiak ot' Summit, ll'.: the first American chaplain to set foot on French and German soil vias Capt. Venantius Szymanski of De- troit. The first American woman to land on Munda and New Georga was Army Nurse Second Lt. Dorothy P. Shikoski from Green Lake, Wis.. Lt. George Klimowicz of Stevens Point, Wis.. was one of three Amer- ican officers who first entered Ger- man territory in August, 1944. Outstanding deeds of valor and sacrifice also speak eloquently for Polish Americans. Lt. Col. Francis S. Gabreski of Oil City, Pa., shot down 31 German planes to become one of America's flying aces. It was a Polish American, Sgt. Alexander A. Drabik of Holland. Ohio, who seized the Remagen bridge in a surprise move and opened wide the way for the conquering Americans into Germany. Sgt. Joseph Sadow- ski of Perth Amboy, N. J., gave his life for his buddies and won the Nation's highest award, the Con- gressional Medal of Honor, which was awarded posthumously to his parents. AQPFIIHPIIM E4'11:1'111't'L Sgt. A. Kaczmarezyk