Tomasz Wielgat

Translation of parts of an

interview by Prof. Patalas

I was born to Jakub and Elenora in the Osiecznik settlement in Wolyn district on 22 December 1918. I had five siblings. My father had served in the Polish legion and ran a 350-hectare estate in the area.

Soon after the Russians invaded in 1939, I was forcibly conscripted into a labour battalion of the Russian Army. I remained with that unit until the Germans attacked the Russians. General chaos soon ensued, and I was able to get away and make my way home to my parents.

When the Ukrainian massacres started, my family moved to Lublin, but I stayed behind as a member of the Home Army (AK). As things intensified, our unit grew in strength, and similar detachments began to form near Luck, Włodzimierz, and Kowel. Together, we formed the 27th Division of the Home Army, and our numbers quickly swelled to 6,000.

Protection of the Polish population against the Ukrainian Insurrection Army was only one of our objectives. Another was the sabotage of German transports to the eastern front.

After the war, I married a Anna whom I met in the Lublin district. My parents moved again, near Grudziądz, where they got an abandoned German farm. Since my wife was Czech, we decided to settle in Czechoslovakia. We soon came under the suspicion of the Czech Secret Police, so we escaped to Allied Occupied West Germany. We emigrated to Canada and arrived in Manitoba in 1950, the year of the devastating flood.

I worked at a series of jobs, until I was hired by the Canadian National Railway, and worked as a Carman at the Winnipeg Weston Shops for 33 years retiring in 1983. I moved to Calgary in 1994 so that I could be close to my children.

I was a Life Member of the Royal Canadian Legion” Andrew Mynarski” V.C. Branch, the Polish Combatants’ Association Branch No. 13, and the Polish-American Veterans Association.

Tomasz passed away in Winnipeg on 13 May 2000 at the age of 82 years. He was buried at the Holy Ghost Cemetery.