Edward SZCZEPANSKI
Polish 2nd Corps
Edward was born to Kazimierz and Zuzanna Szczepanski on 11 November 1923 in Poland.
Edward’s family were forcibly deported to Siberia by the Russians. Travelling in the most primitive circumstances a goods train, it took several weeks to reach the work camp in Siberia. There, they laboured for nearly 2 years, with little food and no medical care.
Released by the ‘amnesty’ that freed Poles who were imprisoned in the USSR, the family journeyed south to find the Polish Army being formed there. Edward volunteered to join the army, as did his father and two brothers. His father Kazimierz and younger brother Mitch were buried in Iraq.
Edward trained with the Polish 2nd Corps in the Middle East then fought in the Italian Campaign, including the Battle of Monte Cassino. He was awarded the Monte Cassino Cross, as well as the 1939-1945 War Medal, and the Defence medal.
After the war, Edward joined his mother and sisters (Janina and Zuzanna) in England, where his brother Michal joined them later.
Their Uncle sponsored the family to Winnipeg, Canada in 1948. There, he met his wife Marianna and they were married on 7 August 1952. Edward was a steel worker with Manitoba Bridge and Dominion Bridge for over 30 years. He then enjoyed a long retirement, enjoying the outdoors at the cottage which the family built in 1974; gardening and picking the bounties of the forest.
Edward was a long-standing parishioner of St. John Cantius' Church. He also belonged to the Polish Veterans Association Branch #13, and was an active member of the St. John's Seniors Club.
Edward Szczepanski passed away in Winnipeg on 29 May 2011. at the age of 87. He was buried at the Holy Ghost Cemetery.
Copyright: Szczepanski family