I was born on November 28th,1898 in Gródek Jagielloński in Lwowskie Province. I am a son of Michał and Józefa, of Roman Catholic denomination, married to Bronislawa, a father to one eleven-year-old child, Ryszard.

 

All my childhood I lived with my parents in Lwów, where I attended an elementary school and then the Faculty School of H. Sienkiewicz. While attending the Faculty School in 1910, I joined the VI Scouting Troop. I remained with the scouting troop until 1912, when my father died and then I had to stop attending school and quit  scouting in order to start working to support my widowed mother and my siblings.

 

When I belonged to the above-mentioned scout troop as an ordinary scout member, I did everything that was required by The Polish Scout Program at that time. We were being prepared for a military action to fight for Polish independence, including training in sharp shooting with rifles at the shooting range in Sokół-Macierz in Lwów and military field exercises, also carried out at night. At that time, I was also recruiting my classmates from the Faculty School to join the troop.

 

After my father died, I did my apprenticeship from 1912 until 1914 in two grocery stores 1) in the store run by Kazimierz Sznajder in Gródek Jagielloński; 2) in the store run by Lebedyński in Lwów. In 1914, after the outbreak of the World War, when Lebedyński closed his store I decided to join the Polish Legion in Lwów, however, being then a minor and still poorly developed physically, I was refused admission to the Legion. I was advised to wait a little.

 

Meanwhile, an occupation of Lwów by Russian troops began, and therefore I stayed in Lwów. During the Russian invasion in Lwów I was working as a  tram conductor until the Austrians took over Lwów and I was conscripted to the Austrian army in May 1916. I remained in the army on the Italian and Russian fronts. After the collapse of Austria, I returned home to Gródek Jagielloński where my mother lived at the time. This was on 20th November,1918.

 

In November 1918, on my way back from the Russian front, I stayed for a few days in Chełm, where, at the railway station, I took part in disarming German and Austrian soldiers returning from the Russian front.

 

After arriving in Gródek Jagielloński on 20th November 1918 and as soon as the city was taken over by Polish forces, I joined a Polish contingent as a volunteer and was assigned to the national military police based in Gródek Jagielloński. I stayed there until the end of February 1919.

 

Between November 1918 and February 1919, when the Ukrainians were repeatedly attacking Gródek , trying to take it back, I took an active part in repulsing of the enemy, on patrol and during outpost duty. From March 1st to May 1st 1919 I attended a military police academy in Lwów and during that time I took an active part (along with the other students) in the April 1919 offensive, when we drove the Ukrainian troops away from the city.

 

I continued serving in the country's military police at the police station in Starzawa near Chyrów and, while on patrols in Starzawa area, I took an active part in armed skirmishes with the Ukrainians until the main offensive from Chyrów in the summer of 1919, when the Ukrainians were driven away.

 

Following the reorganization in November 1919, when the National Military Police was transformed into the National Police, I have remained in service until now.

 

I was  a leading investigating officer in the criminal brigade, enrolled on a training course in a Police School in Mostki Wielkie, between 8/7/1934 and 5/12/1934.

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signed

Franciszek Turkiewicz​​​​​​​​

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