Stefan Michalak was born in Poland on 7 August 1916. When he came of age, he enlisted in the Polish Army and began the training that would prepare him to attain a junior officers rank.

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With the defeat of the Polish Army in World War 2, Stefan joined the Polish Home Army (AK) and continued the struggle as a partisan, participating in clandestine operations, which earned him the respect of his peers.

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It was during this turbulent time that he met the woman who would become his wife. Stefan and Maria were married in 1946, only to be separated for a ten-year period after his escape from Communist-held Poland in 1948. He would have been arrested by the Communists had he not escaped.

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Stefan reached the Allied occupation forces in Germany and emigrated to Canada . He settled in Saskatchewan and, while working on a family farm as a hired hand, began a ten-year struggle to bring his wife, daughter and son to Canada from Poland.

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In 1957, he was reunited with his wife and family, and in 1958, a second son was born into the family. Subsequently they moved to Winnipeg where he worked as an industrial mechanic and as a millwright on hydro-electric projects in northern Manitoba.

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Stefan Michalak passed away in Winnipeg on 28 October 1999, at the age of 83 years.

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Copyright: Michalak family

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