I must say it was an extraordinary event. In 2004, I have seen many celebrations honoring soldiers of the Home Army who participated in the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, but this one was indeed special.
Several heads of state and dignitaries attended a solemn ceremony prepared by Lech Kaczynski, the President of the city of Warsaw commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising.
There was also a well documented one hour program shown worldwide on CNN as well as a book written by Norman Davies describing the facts about the 1944 Uprising - the events that took place on August 1 of that year were properly exposed to the world public.
On a smaller scale, celebrations occurred in several cities across the western Hemisphere. One was in my hometown of Montreal, where on October 3th of this year, the University of Concordia's Loyola Hall was host to an event organized by the Montreal branch of the Polish Home Army Association. More than 600 people paid tribute and honored the participants of the Warsaw Uprising. The event was a great success. But the event in New York surpassed my imagination. The event was exceptionally unique.

In order to shed some light on what sparked the idea to celebrate the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, we have to go back a few years. One of the participants of the Uprising, a member of the famous Zoska Battalion, Witold Komar living in New York shared his wartime memories with his son Stefan Komar, a captain in the New York Police Department. Stefan, upon hearing his father's stories took the case to the Pulaski Association which is an organization affiliated with the NYPD. Of the 14,000 officers in the NYPD, some 800 are of Polish descent and most of them are members of this association.

Captain Thomas Ryan, president of Pulaski Association and Mieczyslaw Madejski, President of Polish Home Army Association N.Y.

Commissioner Kelly with W. Lorenc, M. Madejski
and P. Wos

Captain Thomas Ryan, President of the Pulaski Association took charge of organizing an event to honor the anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising with the help of Stefan Komar and other officers. Unfortunately, the man who originated the idea to commemorate the Uprising, Witold Komar, died last year.
Before the main ceremony, there was a presentation of the film "Rising" shown on a large screen television and a collection of photographs from the Uprising were on display which allowed everyone present to see the extent of the destruction to the city of Warsaw.
The ceremony itself started at 2:00 pm with the prayer and the national anthems being sung for each country. The "color parties" which included four New York police officers and a Polish team of six dressed in colorful pre-war military uniforms carrying their nation's flags were present.

Team representing New York Police Department

During the event commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, three New York police officers were awarded Achievement Diplomas by Assistant (Deputy) Chief Phil Pulaski. They were J. Blozis, K. Czartorski and T. Raczynski.
Next, paying tribute to the participants of the Uprising and to the people of Warsaw, the Commissioner of the NYPD, the Honorable Raymond W. Kelly stressed the noble goals of the Uprising: TO LIBERATE WARSAW FROM THE GERMAN OCCUPATION and BECOME MASTERS IN THEIR OWN HOME. In his words A HERIOC TASK.
In separate speeches, Mr. A. Storozynski, Editor of "A.M. New York" and Professor J. Micgiel of Colombia University talked about the scope of the Uprising where 18,000 Home Army soldiers and 200,000 civilians died in 63 days struggle. Afterwards, 11 participants of the Warsaw Uprising were called to the podium one by one to hear a short resume of their war experience. At the end, they were greeted with tremendous ovations from the audience (more then 500 people attended) and they received bouquet of flowers.
They are the members of the Polish Home Army Veterans Association (SZZAK) in New York, led by energetic president Mieczyslaw Madejski. Honored were: Wanda Lorenc, Bronek Bergman, Richard Hermanowski, Wieslaw Kaczmarek, Witold Komar, Dariusz Madejski, Mieczyslaw Madejski, Tadeusz Marchaj, Wojtek Sosnkowski, Pawel Wos i Jerzy Odon Wos. Several of them were decorated for bravery in action with Cross of Valor, a high military distinction.

Eleven participants of Warsaw Uprising

Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly with Polish team from Polish Army Veterans Association (Connt Branch)

Commissioner Kelly was presented with a copy of the book "RAISING 44" written by Norman Davies as a token of appreciation.
A short artistic presentation by school children form Maspeth and boy's scouts dressed in semi-military uniforms resembling participants of the Uprising, singing "Hey Boys", "Parasol Song" and "Weeping Willows" brought the official ceremony to a close.
The aftermath brought an unexpected surprise. I was very impressed to see a group of New York police officers discussing in fluent Polish their experiences with veterans of the Uprising. What an occurrence - a new generation "GUARDIANS OF THE BIG APPLE" honoring a fading generation of "HEROES OF THE WARSAW UPRISING"- it was a proud day for both groups.
The happy gathering lasted for hours. Hundreds of photos were taken. A Polish buffet was served.
Also present at the event were dozen of cadets from West Point Military Academy N.Y. They were given a briefing about military and political aspects of the Uprising by one of the participant of the Warsaw Uprising Wieslaw Kaczmarek.
As an ex-soldier of the Home Army unit operating during the Second World War in central Poland, I join my comrades in arms of the Warsaw Uprising in sincerely congratulating Captain THOMAS RYAN, President of the Pulaski Association, Captain STEFAN KOMAR and other officers of the NYPD for organizing such memorable ceremony. It was a job well done. I left the Auditorium late in the afternoon wondering, how the late Witold KOMAR would have been proud about his SON's accomplishments.

Marian Wojdan

The 4th Infantry Regiment Leg.
Of the Home Army
Kielce-Montreal-New York

November 2004

PS. There were unfortunately several members of the Warsaw Uprising living in New York who were unable to attend the ceremony for various reasons.