Wladyslaw Szymanski was born in Poland in 1926.

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Wladyslaw’s father was imprisoned in a German concentration camp in Poznan, in German-occupied Poland. His family was deported to eastern Poland to make room for Germans who took over their home.

 

In 1940, at the age of 14, Wladyslaw was arrested and sent to work as a slave laborer in Austria. From there he fled to Italy where he joined the Polish 2 Corps, a part of the Polish Army in exile that was fighting its way back to Poland. He served in the 2nd Battalion of the Carpathian Rifle Brigade. He fought in the Italian Campaign, including the Battles of Monte Cassino, Bologna, Ancona, and Loretto.

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The army never made it back to Poland. After the war, the army was sent to England after Poland lost its independence to the Communists. Some soldiers who did decide to go back to Poland after the war, ended up in prison, murdered by the secret police, or sent to Siberia. Therefore, Wladyslaw decided to stay away from his homeland. By then, his father had died in the concentration camp.

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Wladyslaw joined the Polish Resettlement Corps in England and prepared for civilian life and work.

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Wladyslaw emigrated to the U.S. in 1951, and settled in Buffalo, New York.

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Source: Facebook post

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