Boleslaw Kurylo

Boleslaw Kurylo was born on 10 February 1920 in Eastern Poland near Szuszyn.

Boleslaw joined the Polish army at the age of 17. In September, 1939 as Hitler's Germany attacked Poland from the west, Stalin's Russia marched in from the east. He fought in the September Campaign and was then taken prisoner by the Russians and interned in a remote Siberian POW camp.

In 1942 the Allies negotiated an ‘amnesty’ for all the Polish prisoners in Siberia. This allowed Boleslaw and other camp survivors to journey to the southern USSR and assemble in Uzbekistan under Polish General W. Anders. Boleslaw was 22 years old. The army was then evacuated to Persia (now Iran).

They were deployed to Iran, Iraq, Palestine, and Egypt, where the Polish 2nd Corps formed and joined the British 8th Army for the invasion of Italy. The Polish 2nd Corps went on to fight in the Italian campaign in battles at Monte Casino, Ancona, and Bologna. Boleslaw was fiercely proud to have been a member of the Carpathian Lancers Regiment and to have received the Monte Cassino Cross and the Siberian Cross.

After the war, unable to return to Poland, Boleslaw emigrated to Canada on the basis of a two-year work contract. He later settled in Winnipeg, where he married Anna and raised a family. He worked for the Canadian National Railway until his retirement in 1984.

Boleslaw was a member of the Polish Combatants Association Branch #13 and the Andrew Mynarski V.C. R.C.L. Branch #34, for over 57 years. He was also a member of Holy Ghost Parish and St. John Cantius seniors club.

Boleslaw passed away in Winnipeg on 22 March 2010, and is buried at the Holy Ghost Cemetery.