My name is Barbara F. Campbell, and this is a brief history of my parents, Alfons and Wanda Filipiak and their journey from Poland to America.

 

My Father, Alfons Filipiak, was born on 28 April 1914, just a few months before World War I began. His parents, Waclaw and Anastasia (Elinska) were living at the time in Hamborn, Germany. In 1924, Hamborn was incorporated into the city of Duisburg. I believe my Fatherʼs family had moved to Hamborn in 1910 since that was the year his oldest sister, Pelasia, was born and her birth was in Hamborn.   My Father and two of his three siblings were born in Hamborn. They lived there until 1920 when his family relocated back to Bydgoszcz. My father was 6 at the time. The Filipiak Family had lived in Bydgoszcz prior to World War I and returned to Bydgoszcz in 1920. The circumstances as to why they left Poland and/or returned to Bydgoszcz are unknown.  

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Alfons Filipiak grew up in Zoledowo outside of Bydgoszcz. At the age of fourteen, he went to a Technical College in Bydgoszcz and graduated on 21 June 1932, with a diploma of General Fitter. On 17 October 171932, he voluntarily entered N.C.O. Cadet School of the Polish Air Force which he finished on 19 June 1935, with a diploma as - 1st Class Air Force Mechanic. After graduation, Alfons signed on for Regular Duties as an N.C.O. Mechanic in the Air Force where he stayed until the outbreak of WWII in 1939.  

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On 17 September 1939, Alfons crossed the Polish Rumanian border under his Commanding Officer’s instructions and was interred at a Rumanian Army Camp in Slatina. Sometime after his internment in Slatina, he travelled by ship from Balcik Port and arrived at Marseilles Port, France on 23 November 1939. After his arrival in France, he was posted to a French Air force Base in Lyon-Bron in the South of France.

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From the Lyon-Bron Air Force Base, Alfons volunteered to join the British Royal Air Force and arrived in Southhampton, England, on 2 March 1940, and was directed to the Royal Air Force Station in “Eastchurch Kent” where he completed three months of basic training with a rank of AC2 Airman.  

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While in France awaiting to be assigned, Alfons began an inquiry to find out what happened to his parents and siblings after the Nazi invasion. Through the Red Cross he was able to find that his parents and two sisters were alive and were living in Zoledowo. However, his brother Edward, after joining the Polish Army, had been captured and was sent to Stalag 17A, outside of Moosburg in Germany. The camp eventually held 80,000 prisoners from all over the world who were fighting in the war. By the e

nd of the war, his brother Edward was transferred to the Potulice Concentration Camp which he survived.

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In August 1940 Alfons was posted to the Polish Bomber Squadron 301 as Engine Fitter II to Royal Air Force station Bramcote near Coventry, Nottingham. After two years Alfons took a 6-month Fitter I course at R.A.F. Station Hednesford, Staffordshire. Upon completion, he was posted back to the Polish Bomber Squadron 301 stationed at R.A.F. Station Swinderby, Lincolnshire.  

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In January 1943, he volunteered for Air Crew duties. After passing all examinations, he took a flight engineering course in St. Athans, Wales which he finished in April 1943. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 300 Bomber Squadron stationed at Hemswell and later at Ingham Lincolnshire for flight engineering duties.

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A flight engineer during World War II was the same as a co-pilot today. The flight engineer is the system’s expert of the airplane with an extensive mechanical and technical knowledge of aircraft systems and aircraft performance.

 

In February 1944, Alfons was posted to Special Duties Polish Squadron 301 which was stationed overseas at Campo Casale, Brindisi, Italy where he completed 44 missions. In April 1944 after an operation over Poland, Alfons was forced to bail out over Italy due to bad weather, engine trouble and a shortage of petrol. The next year he was admitted into the elite Caterpillar Club which requires that the subject/member bail out of a disabled plane and have a witness to the event.

 

The plane Alfons flew during most of the sorties or missions and the plane he bailed out of was a Handley Page Halifax, Heavy Bomber. Also, please note the special operations Alfons flew during June 1944 were heavily marked in his flight book. This was the actual D-Day operations.   The medals Alfons Filipiak received for his duties as a flight engineer are as follows:

           

• Mark Field flight engineer            

• Badge of Honor for wounds and injuries            

• Cross of Valor for the first time            

• Cross of Valor for the second time            

• Cross of Valor for the third time            

• Brown Cross of Merit with swords for the first # time            

• Air Force Medal for the first time

 

On 19 November 1944, he was posted to the United Kingdom for duties at the Polish Air Force Depot, Blackpool. His final and last commission was as Senior Sergeant on 3 January 1945. Six months later, Alfons was granted an unpaid leave to complete a 3-year course at the Aeronautical-Automobile Engineering College at Chelsea London and Wimbledon London which he completed in October 1947 and received a full diploma.   Alfons was posted back to the Polish Depot, Dunholm Lodge, Lincolnshire for further duties. 

On 15 January 1947, he entered the Polish Resettlement Corps for 2 years of regular service in the RAF. On 15 January 1949, he was demobilized from P.R.C.- RAF in rank of warrant Officer and took civilian occupation.  

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The Polish contribution to World War II was outstanding and directly led to the Polish Resettlement Act of 1947.  Many of these men and women were originally from the Kresy region of Poland. Though Alfons was not from the Kresy region, his future wife, Wanda Kobylinska was from Wolyn in the Kresy region.   While still in the RAF, Alfons met Wanda Kobylinska (Wanda was born in Zurawice, Luck, Wolyn on 25 March 1924). Wanda was arrested on 10 February 1940, along with other Poles from the Kresy region and taken to a forced labour camp in Archangelsk, Siberia. She was released from the gulag in October 1941. She evacuated to Iraq and by 1942 signed on with the RAF. She was trained in Scotland and finally posted to London as a telephone operator.  

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Sometime around 1945-1946, Wanda and Alfons met and were married on 21 June 1947, in Wimbledon, London. They took up residence on Warwick Way, Victoria, London. Wanda was discharged from the RAF on 23 December 1947, while Alfons was discharged from the RAF and the Polish Resettlement Corps on 15 January 1949.  

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After Wanda was discharged from the RAF, she attended Taylor and Cutter Academy in London and became an expert tailor and pattern maker. Alfons took some classes in tailoring as well.   After he was discharged, Alfons took a less extensive course than his wife in tailoring which amounted to a three-month course making ladies garments and, a 6-month course in cutting ladies garments at Tailor and Cutter Academy in London. Between the two of them they were working full time and saving money to purchase a flat.   When Wanda and Alfons went to the bank with a down payment on a flat, they were refused a loan because they were not British subjects and were told they should consider returning to Poland. 

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Wanda and Alfons had no intention of returning to Poland because of the events of Yalta so they decided to immigrate to the United States. Because Alfons was born in Germany, he was permitted to immigrate on the German quota and thus leave Britain sooner than most Poles.  Among Alfons Filipiakʼs papers (in the binder) there are letters that were written to Congressman John Davis Lodge of Connecticut stating that he was a strict anti-Communist and did not want to return to Poland and a letter to the American Embassy in London to enter the United States.  

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Wanda had a first cousin on her father’s side who had been born in Cleveland, Ohio, prior to WWI. Mr. Kobylinski was willing to sponsor them and that expedited the immigration even sooner.   Alfons and Wanda arrived in New York on 22 February 1951, off the Cunard Steamship “Queen Mary” and immediately boarded a train to Cleveland, Ohio. Upon arrival, Wandaʼs cousin, Mr. Kobylinski, indicated he would only sign papers to sponsor them, but they were on their own once they arrived.  

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Wanda was four months pregnant, so they needed to find lodging immediately in Cleveland. They were kindly taken in by an elderly Polish American lady on East 71st in Slavic Village and Alfons and Wanda stayed in her home for nine months. It was also at this time that Alfons found work at Harris Sebold Intertype where he remained until his retirement at 60 in 1974.   Their only child, Barbara, was born on 16 July 1951. For the next seven years, they lived in several rentals, and Wanda and Alfons opened a dry cleaning and tailoring shop called Alʼs Cleaning and Tailoring Shop. This was a way for Wanda to earn a living and work in her profession while taking care of her daughter. The dry-cleaning business hit hard times in the 50ʼs with the advent of polyester and off the rack clothes competed with the tailoring industry. They closed the shop in 1956, and Wanda found work at General Electric.   Even though she was now working in a factory making small parts for light bulbs, the pay was excellent and with Alfon’s income, they were able to save money for a new car and a down payment on a house.

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On 21 June 1957, Alfons and Wanda became citizens of the United States. It was coincidental that June 21st was also their wedding anniversary.   In 1958, Wanda and Al purchased a home in the Old Brooklyn area. By now, Wanda’s father, Leon Kobylinski and younger brother, Edmund Kobylinski, had also immigrated to Cleveland, found work, and settled into life in the U.S.   Wandaʼs mother, Helena, who was separated from her husband Leon, came to the United States for a year-long visit but decided to return to her home in Nottingham where she remained until her death in 1986 at the age of 84.   Though Wanda and Al tried to convince his side of the family in the 50ʼs and 60ʼs to emigrate from Poland to the U.S., it was difficult to leave Poland at that time: his father was in his 80ʼs, and his mother was in poor health. His two sisters and brother by now were married and had children.

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In the summer of 1959, after not seeing his parents for 20 years, Alfons requested a four week leave from work to visit his ailing mother in Poland. It would be the first and last time he would see his family since leaving Poland in 1939. By the late 1950ʼs Alfons and Wanda had made friends with many of the Polish immigrants, many who were from the Kresy region of pre-WWII Poland. Sikorski Placowka 203 on East 71st and Harvard became the Club that many of these WWII veteran immigrants joined. Here they rejoiced their freedom, adopted each other as family, had parties, galas, bought houses in the suburbs and began to enjoy life and the fruits of their labor. Alfons at one point in the early 60ʼs was elected Commander of the Post. Because Wanda was a military veteran, she had voting rights and could hold office at Placowka 203. Only a couple of women besides Wanda had those rights in the Post. 

 

Alfons continued working his way up at Harris Seybold and Wanda continued to work at General Electric.   In 1970, Al (as he was now called) and Wanda had saved enough money to send their daughter, Barbara, to a private college in Cambridge Springs, Pa. That college was Alliance College, a private Polish College run by the PNA headquartered in Chicago. Barbara graduated in 1973 with a degree in Economics and met her future husband P.J. Campbell from East Brady, Pennsylvania. Barbara and P.J. were married 29 June 1974, in Cleveland, OH.  

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In April 1974, Al had an aneurysm two months before the wedding of his daughter. He recovered, however, he did not return to work and left Harris Seybold after 23 years of service. Wanda continued to work for two more years at General Electric and decided to leave in 1976 so she could spend time with her husband and take care of her father who was now in his 80ʼs and in failing health.   Al and Wanda continued to enjoy life, but tragedy struck when Wanda’s father, Leon Kobylinski died of cancer in December 1981. Wanda and Al decided they were going to go on a cross-country trip in the spring of 1982 to California to visit a cousin of Wanda’s when Al had a heart attack in March 1982. While recovering and waiting for his heart to get stronger so he could undergo bypass surgery, he had a second heart attack and died on 2 May 1982. Alfons Filipiak is buried at Holy Cross Cemetery.  

Wanda continued without her husband and father and a mere six weeks after her husband died, Wanda went to work as a tailor for a high end fashion shop in Beachwood, Ohio.  She retired in 1987.

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Copyright: Barbara F. Campbell

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