Philadelphia

When Stanley arrived in American in April 1937 he moved in with his sister, Mary and her husband, Casimir Prajzner to their two story brick row house at 2708 Alresford St.

Philadelphia. At that time both brothers Frank and Joseph were still boarders there too. All three slept in the same back bedroom – just like they had in Poland.

Stanley did not know that America was in a Great Depression and that times were hard here. The Prajzner’s like so many families had to watch their expenses. It seemed like they always ate Cornflakes. This was a come-down from the big farm meals he was accustomed too. Frank became especially fond of peas right out of the can. They had no refrigeration, not even an ice box. During the winter the next day’s sandwiches of veal loaf were hung to keep cold in a bag under the window sash. Stanley soon lost weight.

Joe’s big news was that he was engaged to be married in only two months. Their bedroom would soon be less crowded when he moved out. His fiancée was Helen Flis of St.

John Cantius Church in Bridesburg.

The Flises lived in another two-story brick row house close by. Their house was on the corner and had a small sewing notions and clothing store, taking advantage of the intersection of Salmon and Croyden Streets. A living-dining room and a shed of a kitchen completed the first floor. It had what must have been the world’s smallest back yard which was little more than a concrete sidewalk surrounded by a fence and leading to a small alley. Everything in that house was small. But the neighborhood was well cared for. I remember that the wooden front door was decorated with fancy (finger-painted) wood grain.

Frank Urbanek once said, after another meatless meal with the Prajzners, “Even the

Flises sometimes serve chicken.”

The family was that of Thomas and Alexandra (Cendrowska) Flis. Both were Polish

immigrants having been born there in 1888 and 1895 respectively and who had first met in the

United States.

Thomas (Tomasz) Flis was one of five sons of Mateusz (Mathew) Flis and Mary Białek.

His World War I draft registration gives his birthplace as Janof (Janow, Austrian-Poland). The

specific village and the creek running through it are both named “Flisy”! (See also Section Flis

Family Documents.)

What is believed to be the manifest from Tomasz’s arrival at

Ellis Island says he came on January 26, 1910 on the SS

Finland from Antwerp. His father is listed as Mateusz; age 20;

height 5’-6”; single; with fair complexion. His destination is

given as Uncle Mateusz Chmiel residing in Philadelphia, Port

Richmond (which is just south of Bridesburg.) Tomasz Flis

There are several “Tomasz Flis” entries in the records of Ellis Island and the Naturalization Office. Another Thomas Flis arrived on April 27, 1910 on the SS Kroonland. This Thomas Flis went to live with his brother Andrezj in Zanesville, Ohio. Confusion is compounded by the fact that Thomas Flis seems to have confused his year of arrival and ship on later official documents.

My cousin, Bill Flis likes to ask, “What kind of name is

Flis?” The answer follows, “It’s Polish--like the opera of

the same name.” The storyline of the opera involves two

rivals for a young maid’s hand who find out they are long-

lost brothers. “Flis” is usually translated as “The

Raftsman”.

“Flis” Opera Album Cover

Thomas’ younger brother, Stanley came and settled in Canada. Stanley brought a wife

and two children from Poland. (Stanley Flis would eventually die of lung cancer from working in

asbestos mining.)

Alexandra Cendrowska was the youngest daughter of the six offspring of Kazimierz

Cendrowski and Susanna Kowalewska. When Alexandra’s mother, Susanna died her father,

Kazimierz remarried and sired five more children. With eleven children in the household,

Alexandra probably felt she wouldn’t be missed if she left.

Alexandra arrived in New York City on August 10, 1910 on the SS Hannover from

Bremen. (Some records say August 12, 1908 on the SS Statendam, but I cannot find any

manifests from either ship. Another document says she arrived in Philadelphia.) Her age on

one document is listed as 18; marital status single; ethnicity Polish; last permanent residence

“Kesabo”, Russia (Russian-Poland).

No such village “Kesabo” exists in Poland; the name was probably phonetically spelled by the interviewer. Alexandra’s brother, Josef listed his birth place as “Kosaki, Poland”. Kosaki is very near Krzewo; perhaps Krzewo is the mis- spelled village Alexandra had meant to be recorded. Krzewo is about 12 km east of Łomża, the home of uncle Pawel Cendrowski. Łomża itself is 90 km northeast of Warsaw. Alexandra’s youngest daughter, Melanie remembers her mother saying she was from “near Warsaw”. Map of Modern Day Poland

On Map: Alexandra Cendrowska believed to be from Krzewo Thomas Flis believed to be from Janow, Lublin County Jan and Monika Urbanek were from the Krosno vicinity

The young immigrant was 5’-2” tall, clear complexion, with blond hair and brown eyes.

Her occupation was maid, and she could neither read nor write. Alexandra’s passage was paid by her uncle, Pawel Cendrowski of 2671 Enset Street, Philadelphia, PA. Pawel (Paul)

Cendrowski immigrated to the U.S. in 1907 with his wife, Marianna and child. Seven more children were born in America before Marianna died in 1920. Paul Cendrowski took a second wife, Bronisława Muzinska.

One of Alexandra’s brothers, Antoine Cendrowski immigrated to Lyon, France in 1929.

There his ancestors now live near Bordeaux, Lille, Alsace and perhaps Rennes and Savoie,

France.

Alexandra and Thomas married in Philadelphia in 1913. She had a job washing floors in the Bourse Building in downtown Philadelphia. In 1917, he listed his occupation as laborer at

Pier 8 for the Reading Railway Co.. In the 1920 U.S. Census, Thomas listed his place of employment as a shipyard, as did his cousin, Dominick Flis. Dominick elsewhere identifies its name as “Cramp Shipbuilding” Later, during the Depression, Thomas was a laborer at the

Quaker Sugar factory. I had heard that my grandfather’s thumb was lost in a railcar door accident. Dominick and Thomas coincidently both had severed thumbs. Thomas’ death certificate lists his occupation as “retired conveyor operator”.

Thomas Flis was a very quiet man and a hard worker. He didn’t say much but when he said something it was very funny. His children thought he didn’t know the names of the colors.

But I think he was color-blind, because I am too. Color-blindness affects mostly men, but it is inherited through the mother who is otherwise unaffected. Two adults and five children in such a small house were too many people so he spent a lot of his free time playing cards with his buddies in the local Polish Club. Pinochle was a favorite.

The kind-hearted Alexandra in contrast with her

husband was very outgoing. She loved to dance and

liked to get others dancing too. At Easter she would

make babka, Polish sweet bread, and have her

youngest daughter distribute them all over the

neighborhood. She could barely sign her name.

Alexandra shorted her name to “Alice” because it made

for an easier signature. Daughter, Melanie remembers

The Outgoing Alice Flis writing letters for Alice to send back to Poland.

The 1920 U.S. Census records the Flis family living at 2722 E. Ontario St. in Port

Richmond, Philadelphia. In addition to their own children, his cousin, Dominick Flis along with wife, Antoinette and infant daughter, Cecilia are listed as renting at the same address.

Believed to be Thomas with Dominick and Family in 1920

The allure of returning to Poland in the 1920’s affected many Poles. One of Thomas’ cousins announced that he too was returning with the promise of prosperity. “Don’t believe them; you’ll be better off in America” he is reported to have said in an effort to dissuade his

50 relative. In 1922, Thomas himself applied for U.S. citizenship signing a standard petition in which he had to attest that, “I am not an anarchist; I am not a polygamist….”

4259 Salmon Street, Bridesburg, Today

The couple bought a house with a corner shop at 4259 Salmon Street in Bridesburg,

Philadelphia. To make ends meet Alexandria opened a dry-goods store in their home. It was known by word of mouth because there was no shop sign out front. She bought her wholesale goods downtown, bringing them home on a street car for resale. The three oldest girls:

Genevieve, Helen and Wanda helped out in the store; the two children, Felix and Melanie were still too young in the 1930’s. During the depression Thomas was laid off by the sugar factory for two years before he was finally rehired.

They raised their children, Genevieve (b.1914),

Helen (b. 1916), Wanda (b.1920), Felix (b. 1926)

and Melanie (b. 1930) in St. John Cantius parish

where the children went to elementary school which

was run by nuns. Religion in this Polish parish

was practiced as seriously as back in the old

country. The children grew up speaking Polish, but

they did study English in school. I still have a

Polish reader left over from St. John’ school and a Wanda Flis – Confirmation Portrait prayer book signed “Wanda Flis, 10 years old”.

Joseph had met Helen Flis along with her sisters, Genevieve and Wanda who all worked in the same dress making factory. The oldest Flis daughter, Genevieve tragically died in 1936 after a nine-month illness. The cause of death was kidney failure during a coma that lasted four days. This young woman was laid out in a coffin in the living room dressed in a bridal gown.

She was buried in their parish cemetery, Most Holy Redeemer in Bridesburg.

Joe and Helen married in June 1937. Brother Stanley was not a member of their wedding party. His brother Frank was Joe’s best man and the maid of honor was Helen’s younger sister, Wanda, age 16. At the wedding Stanley, age 22 felt he was being treated “as a kid” and not as an adult by his big brother. Wanda later told Stanley that perhaps he had to prove himself in America so that Joe would see that Stanley was worthy of responsibility.

After the wedding Joe and Helen moved in to the Flis house with her family for two years until they bought their first house on Croyden Street, across from the church and Most Holy

Redeemer Cemetery. In 1939 Joseph and Helen had their first child, Mary. Her godparents were Stanley and Wanda Flis, Helen’s sister.

Two or three weeks after arriving to America Stanley took his first job. It was working at the same saloon Caz Prajzner had worked at earlier. His stint as a bartender didn’t work out, as he was accused of “chipping the glasses”; evidently that was considered a sin during the

Depression. He was put to work instead in the cellar doing some cement work for which he was totally unqualified. The end result was he lost his first job.

Stanley’s next job was at a leather tannery where the boss also spoke Polish. The shop processed calf leather for use by manufacturers of gloves and other articles. First they placed the animal skins in vats with strong chemicals to clean their hides of hair. After the skins had dried by hanging overnight they were put in damp sawdust to make them more pliable. Then the skins were stretched out by nailing them to boards. It was very smelly work especially

52 since it was then summertime. Worst of all, the shop worked on Sundays! Joe had bought his first car and took to driving everyone to the Jersey seashore on Sundays while Stanley worked.

He had no regrets when he was laid off after four months.

When Stanley lost that job, Mary Prajzner wondered how he would pay for his room and board of $7 per week. By that time Mary had her first two children, Stanley (b.1936) and Helen

(b.1938). Because their house was very small, she could not keep non-paying boarders, even if they were family.

Joseph had done some carpentry work for a week or two by replacing a floor for a distant relative (on Monika’s mother’s side) and grocery store owner, a Stanley Tomkiewicz in

Camden New Jersey. Camden was just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia. Joe suggested that his brother, Stanley seek work in this grocery store. In November 1938 Stanley started work at the Tomkiewicz market for room and board, only because it was too far to commute by the Frankford subway line and the ferry across the river, and he wouldn’t earn enough money to pay for his keep with sister, Mary.

He liked working in the grocery store where everyone spoke Polish and even without wages. After five months Stanley was given the money by Tomkiewicz to buy a new suit for

Easter. After Easter he drew a regular wage of $7 per week. Stanley went about 5 to10 times to night school English classes, and he bought a pocket Polish-English dictionary.

On September 1, 1939, Hitler’s Germany attacked Poland from the north, west and south. Unknown to Stanley at the time, Krosno was bombed the first day of the war for it had a small military airport, a railway station and industries. The Germans entered the city eight days later. Polish mounted cavalry was no match for Germany’s mechanized armor. Three weeks after Germany, the Soviet Union attacked Poland from the east. Opposition was futile. The country fell within a total of four weeks. Poland was once again partitioned, this time between

Nazi Germany and the Communist USSR. The dividing line was pre-determined before the attacks by the aggressors. Krosno was in the Nazi sector; it fell in a region the Germans labeled with the strange name “General Government”.

Up to September, Stanley’s sister, Mary had done a good job keeping in touch with

Poland. Both sides had been able to keep up with family news. Now, all communication with

Monika and family was completely severed for the foreseeable future.

For the 1940 American presidential election, Tomkiewicz guided Stanley through the voting process and saw to it that he voted for Franklin Roosevelt. At the store Stanley was put in charge of making kielbasa, the traditional Polish sausage. Little by little his wage was increased to $16 per week. His kielbasa must have had that authentic Polish flavor.

After two and a half years, Tomkiewicz’s wife, Cecilia (Knast) died following childbirth.

She had been bedridden after losing a lot of blood when giving birth. Stanley Tomkiewicz became a widower with two older daughters, Eleanora and Freda who themselves were becoming boy-crazy. The older Stanley feared that his boarder, young Stanley would become the object of their attentions. They agreed it was time for handsome Stanley to move on.

Chester, one of the friends Stanley met in English class had looked for a job at the local unemployment office. The official had placed Chester in a grocery store run by his mother in

Trenton NJ. When Chester mentioned that he had a friend who made kielbasa, the owner of the store, Mrs. Bogdan also offered Stanley a job which included room and board. So Stanley moved to Trenton.

By that time Stanley was dating Wanda, the younger sister of Helen who was married to

Stanley’s older brother Joe: two brothers with two sisters. The foursome often went to the movies together with Stanley returning to Trenton by the last bus on Sunday nights.

Their relationship blossomed and Stanley spent all his weekends in Bridesburg with

Wanda. Wanda was a very trusting person; she was not at all street wise. She had had one boyfriend from her class in school, but he had died. It is easy to forget how fragile life was 80 years ago.

Wanda Flis (In a Photo dated 2/14/1942)

In Poland the turmoil continued. By 1941 the Germans and Soviets had moved hundreds of thousands of Poles into labor camps and their police had executed untold numbers of Polish prisoners of war. Then on June 22, 1941 Nazi Germany attacked its one-time ally, the

Soviet Union. Poland had continued to be a “bloodlands”. During the war’s course the Nazi’s were to set up all six of their major concentration camps on Polish soil.

On November 7, 1941 Stanley received a notice that his local draft board had classified him “1-A”. The notice was sent to him at 870 Ohio Ave., Trenton, NJ.

Stanley worked at Mrs. Bogdan’s store for one year when he and Wanda heard over the radio in her parents’ house that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

The United States declared war against Japan in retaliation. Germany quickly followed suite on the US and war for the second time that century had become world-wide.

Later that month they talked about what this world war with its uncertainty meant for their relationship. They decided to take their chances and agreed to marry after the war. Stanley gave Wanda a $75 engagement ring.

Joe was never drafted into the war effort. Because he was married with one child he was deferred. He managed to stay the entire war one child ahead of being drafted. Such was not the case for Stanley and Frank.

Wanda and Stanley, November 1941

American Soldier

Because they were US citizens, male under 36, healthy and single, Frank and Stanley were both drafted very quickly. During the last few years America had been preparing for a war and had already started a draft before Pearl Harbor. On January 29, 1942 Stanley left for Ft.

Dix, New Jersey where he was inducted with serial number “32 205 549” into the Army of the

United States. Joe, Helen and Wanda managed to visit him in Ft. Dix.

New Jersey in January is cold and the draftees were expected to sleep in tents with only small coal fires for heat. By mornings the coal was used up and it was bitterly cold. On KP one morning, Stanley was told by a cook, near the end of the cook’s shift, to go to his tent to start the coal fire. Stanley took his time getting the fire well started, enjoying its heat and delaying his return as long as possible. “What took you so long?” the cook asked upon his return. “I was just doing what you ordered.” was the draftee’s heavily accented reply.

A week later, he was transferred to Ft. Bragg North Carolina for basic military training.

In Ft. Bragg he met up with brother Frank who was also training there, but in a different unit.

They were photographed together in a variety of poses with their rifles and at attention. Frank’s military career never took him outside the United States.

Stanley trained for nine weeks at Fort Bragg, the normal 12 weeks were compressed because of the war. Most of his fellow trainees were from the east coast. He thought the military training he received was very humane. Training was not near as harsh as that in the

Austrian Army. He had heard stories from his father and others of army treatment in the old country. The Americans were a lot looser with their control of fire arms and ammunition with no constant warnings against losing your weapon. He remembers taking his rifle out and practicing by shooting at fish in a nearby pond. At basic training recruits were asked, “Which do you like

57 better, summer or winter?’ Remembering the bitter cold Polish winters Stanley said, “Summer.”

By that pronouncement he was destined for the war in the Pacific tropics.

His first training was to be a cook’s supply clerk, but he was found to have qualities the army was looking for at the time: accuracy, perseverance and willingness to do a good job. He was sent to Drew Field, Tampa, FL to become part of the 565 Signal Aircraft Warning (SAW)

Battalion, a member of the 5th Army Air Force. He was taught to operate a new secret technology: RADAR (Radio Detection And Ranging.)

“You look for dots and their quantity; measure their speed,

If fast, it was an airplane.

If slow and steady, it was a ship.

5th Army Air Force If it came and went, it was a sub.”

The 565 SAW Battalion was deployed on March 30, 1942. They traveled by train to San

Francisco and then by a five-ship convoy with destroyer escort via Hawaii and New Zealand.

The troops were told to go descend the steel hatches and sleep below deck. Stanley couldn’t stand the smelly, cramped quarters. So he sneaked above deck to sleep in the fresh air. At dawn he blended into the troop as they came up next morning. They arrived in Queensland,

Australia on June 18, 1942. They slept the first night in horse stables at a Brisbane horse racing stadium.

Company A was arranged into platoons and with the last “Urbanek” being at the end of the alphabet, he was assigned the 7th platoon. The platoons were deployed in opposite numerical order: 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. The platoons were followed by their Command.

The plan was to leap frog across the south pacific northward toward Japan. The 7th platoon, a group of 55 soldiers was sent out to Stradbroke Island which was a deserted summer

58 resort where they slept in individual huts made for tourists. They moved inland and set up

RADAR on one peak and then another and began sleeping in tents. The island was 40 miles and 90 minutes away by boat from Brisbane. They were able to go back in groups of six for rest and relaxation to Brisbane.

Taken during leave in Brisbane and exchanged with Wanda

Life at Stradbroke Island was relatively good. Their platoon was befriended by two dogs, Mike and Rustes which followed them all over the island. (One platoon member, an

Italian named “Mike” had named the black dog after himself.) The dogs rode in the trucks and appear in many photos. The soldiers often went swimming in a nearby clear pond. One time in a photograph sent back home to Wanda, the only thing covering up Stanley standing in the pond was Mike, the dog.

For sport the men played baseball in their free time, but Stanley preferred volleyball because he served so well. Each month the troops each received a 24-case of beer and two cartons of cigarettes. Stanley had few vices – he never even swore. He routinely sold half the beer and all the cigarettes to the other men. He wasn’t interested in any of the moonshine the others made either. When they moved north the supply of free beer and cigarettes abruptly stopped.

The South West Pacific Area of the Pacific Theater of Operations was commanded by

General Douglas MacArthur. His strategy was to island hop across the ocean from New

Guinea’s coastline towards the Philippines to divert ships, planes and men from reinforcing

Japan’s Central Pacific front. The New Guinea campaign was one of the major military campaigns of World War II. Sub-campaigns of it were the New Britain campaign and the

Western New Guinea campaign which included the Battle of Biak.

MacArthur’s personal goal was to return to the Philippines. This is a description I found of the theater of war that Stanley participated in:

“Disease thrived on New Guinea. Malaria was the greatest debilitator, but

dengue fever, dysentery, scrub typhus, and a host of other tropical sicknesses

awaited unwary soldiers in the jungle.” – The U.S Army Campaigns of World War II

The day came when they packed up and left Stradbroke Island. All their RADAR gear and large trucks used for overland transport together with tents, food and baggage were loaded onto large barges. The barges made their way north up the Australian coast inboard of the

Great Barrier Reef. The reef protected the convoy from Japanese submarines lurking in the ocean.

Figure 3

Central Pacific Area Offensive

South West Pacific Area Offensive

Stradbroke Island off coast of Brisbane

Map of Pacific Theater of Operations

(Detail on Next Page)

They began the process of leap-frogging north to Port Moresby and Oro Bay,

Papua, New Guinea and New Britain Island, next westward along the north coast of New

Guinea to New Amsterdam Island and Biak Island in the Dutch East Indies (Netherlands

Indies on the map below). Usually each jump was accomplished by a landing force, with the 565 SAW Battalion coming in next to set up defensive RADAR for an airstrip.

New Guinea Campaign (Biak Island Circled)

The landing on New Britain Island took place on Christmas Day 1943. It was particularly difficult as they landed under fire from the Japanese, 100 feet from shore with water up to their armpits. The Japanese were strong the first day but disappeared into the jungle overnight. The abandoned landscape was unreal. The once dense jungle had been leveled by the bombardment, transforming what was left to burned-out tree stumps, shredded vegetation and crater holes. The Japanese left quickly for other parts of the island. They left behind stockpiles of ammunition, supplies and even battle flags.

When it rained the bomb craters filled with water.

Afterwards the sun would dry up the water leaving the soil

surface cracked like alligator skin.

They set up RADAR equipment all over New Britain

Island. The Americans were unable to push the Japanese out

“Body Beautiful” of their stronghold, Rabaul at the north end of New Britain

Island. Instead the American Navy began encircling by sea

and the Japanese evacuated themselves.

During the war Stanley maintained constant mail

communication with Wanda in Philadelphia. To this day he

can still recite her address. At first he could write his letters in

New Britain Island with Flag Polish. But when the censors started reading every one he

switched to English so as not to potentially delay his letters,

waiting for a censor who could read Polish. He had kept with

him the pocket Polish-English dictionary from night school.

She sent letters in return with an occasional package with

luxuries like a bathing suit (no longer counting on Mike the His Tent with Wanda’s Picture (See also Photo pg. 54.) dog being there) and salami. Stanley sent back many

mementoes of his travels: coral reef, cowry sea shells and

cowry bracelets; pictures of himself in camouflage uniform

holding a machete; a decorated coconut with Wanda’s

address carved on it; and silk bags. The silk bags he had

extracted from live artillery shells, after emptying them of the

powder they were holding. Like with the artillery shells of Censor Stamp on Back of Photos

WWI he had found in Poland, he emptied them for sport to

ignite their powder. The large brass Japanese artillery shells

themselves he used a craft project. They became ashtrays

or cream and sugar servers. The nicest were fashioned into

model airplanes with moving propellers. One was of a twin

fuselage P38 Lighting. He made them with welding tools New Guinea Natives and other equipment from the platoon’s motor poll. I still

have a letter opener at work that he had made out of

captured rifle shells with Japanese characters on it.

Stanley’s war-time photos were usually developed in

Australia. The film for many pictures was damaged by the

Mass for Natives extreme heat of the tropics. The photos sent to Wanda were

stamped “Passed” on their backs by the censors. Wanda

carefully mounted them by means of gummed corners onto

the pages of a black photo album. In her best Catholic-

school handwriting she labeled them in white ink. They

included such captions as “Body Beautiful”, “Destination

Dutch Missionary Church Unknown” and “Jap Flag”.

The 565 SAW Battalion occasionally came in contact

with the natives of New Guinea. The army maintained good

relations with the natives by hiring them for labor. The

natives took to supplying the troops with large fish caught far

at sea. Once, the natives felt safe enough to invite Stanley’s The Snake Photo

platoon to their village for a show of tribal dances.

Stanley’s small camera came in handy in an unexpected way. Once he came across a soldier who had killed a very large snake. They took pictures of each other with that snake draped in their hands. Stanley showed those photos to a visiting officer. Later the soldier who had killed that snake came to Stanley and profusely thanked him. That picture had saved him from going to jail or worse. The officer that Stanley had shown the pictures to turned out to be the presider over the soldier’s court martial. The soldier had been charged with falling asleep during guard duty. His defense was that he had been bitten by a very large snake and had lost consciousness. That picture provided enough credence to his story that the officer dismissed the charge. It was this soldier who drew the picture on the decorated coconut he sent to

Wanda.

The chance for attendance at Catholic Mass during the war was rare. Stanley heard

Mass less than ten times in over two years. Once he and some buddies came across a small chapel on one of the islands where Mass was being said. Stanley had no idea of whether the priest was military or a missionary to the natives. The servers on the altar were young native women. Each had on local dress – a grass skirt and no top, just bare breasts. This chapel, a

Dutch Missionary Church was the first “permanent” building Stanley had seen since leaving

Australia over two years ago. The only buildings they had seen up to then had been tents: tents for sleeping, tents while eating, tents to protect and camouflage their equipment. The soldiers often slept in hammocks beneath mosquito nets.

Bob Hope never put on a show for the SAW’s. Hope played far from the front where it was safe and there were many troops to be entertained. Stanley’s deployment usually in one or two platoon strength, 50 -100 men, was always in remote outposts in the jungle. For them the war was long and any diversions they had to devise for themselves.

They arrived on one island in the Dutch East Indies which was too flat for RADAR to be functional. It was also very small. The military had leveled it. An airstrip had been built for fighter planes, with the bombers going to the larger islands. When years later my father and I were touring the new Smithsonian Air and Space Museum at Dulles Airport outside Washington,

DC, we came upon a P61 Black Widow. It was designed specifically for night interception of aircraft, and was the first aircraft specifically designed to use RADAR. He remembered the P61 from the war. After sleeping overnight next to an airfield the battalion crossed to the larger and mountainous Biak Island where they set up their equipment.

In all Stanley participated in four landings: one with the 1st Marine Division and three with the 40th Army Division.

Meanwhile in Philadelphia, Wanda worked in a sewing factory that gave them a new assignment: to sew body bags for dead servicemen to be shipped home in. Wanda’s younger brother, Felix was still in high school during most of the war. But as soon as he was old enough he enlisted in the navy. By the time he went through training the war was over. Felix served in a construction battalion (or Seabee) in clean-up operations.

In November 1944 the jungle environment started to take its toll on Stanley; his health started to suffer. He went from one medical facility to another and finally was taken to the mainland. (He was not sure where, perhaps the Philippines.) He says he was “not doing that good”. He couldn’t eat solid food without throwing up. After losing weight and continually getting weaker, he was evacuated from the pacific and transported to the Army’s Darnall

General Hospital in Danville, Kentucky.

For Technician Fourth Grade, Stanley Urbanek, a participant in the New Guinea

Campaign, and Northern Solomon Campaign, the war was over.

1945

By March Stanley had not gotten any better, and the Army decided that he should be discharged. During the exit exam he was X-rayed for the first time during the war. The reason for his declining health was discovered. He had contracted tuberculosis (TB). Stanley was honorably discharged with an Asiatic Pacific Theater Ribbon with one Bronze Star, Good

Conduct Medal and a Certificate of Disability on March 18, 1945.

Stanley and Wanda Flis married one month later in St. John Cantius Church. His brother, Frank was the best man and Wanda’s cousin Helena Matejkowska was the maid of honor. After a reception at the Flis home the couple spent their honeymoon in Atlantic City,

New Jersey.

Frank and Helena Witnesses to Mom and Dad, April 19, 1945

Victory in Europe was celebrated at the end of April 1945. Poland had contributed the fourth largest troop quantity to the Allied war effort. However, communications with the family in

Poland did not resume at war’s end. Winston Churchill in a speech in America made his declaration that an Iron Curtain had fallen across Eastern Europe. Victory in the Pacific came in

August 1945 after the dropping of two atomic bombs.

Stanley convalesced during the summer 1944, and began working in his brother, Joe’s carpentry shop in September. Joe employed both Frank and Stanley in his newly opened business Modern Bar. Joe was a man in a hurry. Get up early, go to work early, rush home early and go to bed early. Stanley liked a more leisurely pace; he did not like rushing down the subway stairs to make the next train uptown. If Stanley and Joe hadn’t had brotherly rivalry in

Poland, they surely had one now. The work arrangement didn’t last long; they had completed only one bar when Stanley left the shop after only one month.

An Army councilor advised Stanley at his discharge that because of his TB he should settle in a place with clean air, like Arizona. He also asked Stanley what were his plans for work after the Army. Stanley said he had no formal job training or trade, but that he liked his time tending the family store in Poland, and working in two grocery stores before the war.

The same Tomkiewicz whom Stanley had previously worked for suggested that he visit

Massachusetts and look into buying a grocery store there. At the time Tomkiewicz’s second wife wanted themselves to move there to get away from his troublesome daughter by his first wife. Tomkiewicz didn’t move and wife, number-two left him.

Stanley liked the clean air he found in Western Massachusetts. Philadelphia’s atmosphere was very thick with the discharge from chemical plants and petroleum refining.

Since Arizona was so far away and with Wanda’s and his family in Philadelphia, they decided on looking together for a business to own in Massachusetts. They briefly stayed with

Tomkiewicz’s sister, Aniela (Dzija) in Chicopee, MA. Nearby they found a grocery store that had been up for sale, but the new buyer was having second thoughts. That buyer was being drafted and wanted to back out of the deal. Stanley and Wanda agreed in 1946 to pay the

$8,500 for the corner property with its grocery store and attached two-story wood-framed house at 827 Armory Street, Springfield Massachusetts.

The American Urbanek brothers, Frank, Joseph and Stanley, and sister, Mary still had no word on whether or not grandfather, Wojciech and mother, Monika with her five Polish children had survived the war. 1945 was a watershed year for both America and Stanley; World

War II was over and Stanley had married Wanda. So much had occurred already to affect

Stanley’s life; so much of it caused by war:

 36 Years since Jan with Monika had fled military conscription in Poland.

 30 Years since Stanley had been born in Newmarket, NH.

 25 Years since his family had returned to Poland.

 14 Years since his father, Jan had died so unexpectedly.

 8 Years since Stanley had fled war in Poland and returned to America.

 6 Years since losing all contact with family in Poland.

 And 3 years since he had been drafted.

But 1945 also marked the beginning of so many fulfilling achievements that were yet to be:

 2 Years until my birth, and 8 years until my brother, Philip’s.

 10 Years remained until learning his family in Poland had survived the war.

 44 Years until Stanley and Wanda would retire and sell the store.

 54 Years of happy marriage until Wanda would pass away.

 And for 67 years and counting, Dad is still telling his stories….

Walter and Philip c.1960

Sto Lat, Dad

The End

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