The annual commemorations of the 50th anniversary of Bolesławiec’s return to the Motherland and the end of World War II concluded with a gathering of combatants around a bonfire at the recreation center of the 18th Missile Regiment in Trzebień. Nearly 350 people took part, belonging to veterans’ organizations from the Bolesławiec Region, as well as a sizable group from the municipal branches in Gromadka, Warta Bolesławiecka, Osiecznica and Nowogrodziec. They represented former soldiers of regular military units of the anti-Hitler coalition and members of partisan groups fighting fascism. Also present were those who suffered in prisons and Soviet gulags for opposing communist totalitarianism.
As usual, the gathering began with a ceremonial assembly of its participants at the barracks of the 18th Missile Regiment. The regiment’s entire personnel took part. Among those who honored the event with their presence were Deputy Mayor Władysław ZUZIAK, municipal head Kazimierz GAWRON, provincial president of ZKRPiBWP Colonel Edward JAKUBOWSKI, head of WKU Colonel Władysław JĘDRYCZKA and president of TMB Zygmunt BRUSIŁO. The presidents Włodzimierz KOWALSKI, Józef DOLECKI, Franciszek ZIELIŃSKI and Józef PUS arrived with their banners and “charges.”
It is difficult to faithfully put on paper the solemn and ceremonial character of that day, or the goodwill expressed from the regiment’s platform and by the soldiers of the youngest generation standing in close ranks toward the heroes of events from half a century ago. The host of the ceremony, garrison commander Colonel Stanisław CHWOJNICKI, stressed in his speech that their efforts and suffering had not been in vain and that, as a result, they had contributed to the rebirth of a free and sovereign homeland. How symbolic in its meaning was the gesture of President Lieutenant Colonel Włodzimierz KOWALSKI, who, after receiving a magnificent bouquet of flowers from municipal head Kazimierz GAWRON, presented it to Jadwiga GOŁĄB, a teacher of clandestine education and soldier of the Home Army!
Let us mention several participants of the gathering who were among the group of 160 people newly promoted to subsequent higher military ranks in the non-commissioned officers’ corps by the head of the Provincial Military Staff, and the 60 honored with letters of congratulations by the Jelenia Góra Voivode. They included: Jan CZAJKOWSKI – Knight of the Grunwald Cross, the only living holder of this decoration in Bolesławiec; Otton ZYCH – Knight of the Virtuti Militari, 5th Class, for 1939; Bolesław MORUS – a soldier of the Hubal detachment; Antoni ŚWIERZEWSKI and Stanisław KRASOWSKI – soldiers who fought at Lenino; Antoni KŁOS, Kazimiera BIDZIŃSKA and Leszek MIKIETYŃSKI – soldiers of the Polish Armed Forces in the West; Eugeniusz NIENARTOWICZ and Jakub FELDMAN – soldiers of the Red Army and the Polish Army; Józef SATOŁA – a BCH soldier; Maria RADZIEJEWSKA – a member of the Belgian resistance; Zbigniew SONTA and Hubert BONIN – Home Army soldiers; Stanisław RAK – a Home Army soldier and concentration-camp prisoner; Maria DAWIDOWICZ, Julia and Adolf EMILIAŃCZYKOWIE, Genowefa and Kazimierz SOLKIEWICZOWIE – Home Army soldiers and gulag survivors; Aniela DUMA, Jadwiga MYTNIK and Irena JEZIORNA – members of partisan groups in Yugoslavia; Michał DROHOMIRECKI and Eugeniusz STACHOWSKI – soldiers who fought at Monte Cassino; and Stanisław PASZKUĆ of the Vilnius Home Army Group.
The combatants express their gratitude to the garrison command and the managements of KPKS, MPK and ZCh “Wizów” for their assistance in organizing the gathering.