Jerzy Tumaniszwili (Jerzy Trapper), an Oregonian living in Beavercreek, received a promotion to Rear Admiral from the President of Poland, the Hon. Lech Kaczynski. Admiral is the highest rank in the Polish Navy, equivalent to General in the Army. Admiral Jerzy Tumaniszwili is a distinguished WWII veteran of the Polish Navy, decorated with Virtuti Militari and other orders. He served as artillery officer on the Polish Navy ships (ORP) Burza, Krakowiak and Piorun, settling in the U.S. after the war.
The appointment ceremony will take place at the Polish Hall in Portland on May 31, 2009. The day’s events begin with an 11am Holy Mass for veterans of WWII at St Stanislaus Church followed by a reception and appointment ceremony at 12:15pm in the Polish Hall in Portland.
Jerzy Tumaniszwili will receive the appointment from the Polish Ambassador in Washington, Robert Kupiecki, and General Leszek Soczewica. Polonia is invited to the ceremony.
An additional note of interest is that Rear Admiral Tumaniszwili is a Pole of Georgian descent. The following video covers some of the history of Georgian officers in the Polish Army between World Wars I and II:
In follow-up to an earlier posting, The story of Polish Catholics in Duluth, here is a video production covering the history of the parish. The video was produced by Kendra Richards, a student at the University of Minnesota.
Some of the photos used in the production:
St. Josephat’s is located at 417 North Third Ave., East. They can be contacted at 218-722-7819.
Sgt. John Russell was charged with murder Tuesday. He was finishing his third tour in Iraq.
WASHINGTON – Military police on Tuesday charged Sgt. John Russell, a soldier on a 15-month tour to Iraq —“ his third deployment to the country —“ with murder in the shooting deaths of five soldiers at an American base.
Details about Sergeant Russell are beginning to emerge. In an interview with a local television station in Sherman, Texas, Russell’s father said his son was facing financial difficulty and feared he was about to be discharged from the Army. The case has focused further attention on the effect that multiple, extended deployments are having on soldiers.
Fifteen-month tours and repeated deployments are increasing the rate of suicide, divorce, and psychological problems, according to Pentagon data. The shootings at Camp Liberty in Iraq speak to the need “to redouble our efforts … in terms of dealing with the stress,” said Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, in a Pentagon press conference Monday.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is requesting to “institutionalize and properly fund” programs to help wounded troops, including those with psychological disorders. Roughly 300,000 veterans have been diagnosed with some form of post-traumatic stress disorder.
But a main source of the problem —“ the repeated, extended deployments —“ will probably continue. President Obama is drawing troops down in Iraq, but he is also sending more to Afghanistan, minimizing the impact that the drawdown from Iraq will have on the health of the force…
I saw a bumper sticker the other day, actually two. The left side of the car sported a huge Obama sticker. On the right side there was a sticker that read: Got War — blame a Republican. My first thought was one of sympathy for the poor deluded person who thought things would change. My next thought was to market an updated sticker:
“Got War – blame a Republican
Still have war – blame a Democrat”
The sad fact is the all of this could be over; we could disengage from our foreign adventures. Unfortunately, the escapades of the Bush neocons are being continued by the social engineers of the Obama administration.
A word to those who think we are getting something out of this: What are we getting exactly? Are we getting plunder? Cheap oil? Security? Labensraum? A resounding no! When these damaged souls return they will be on the street. They will be homeless Vietnam Vets Part 2. They will be the homeless Vietnam Vet but with twice the anger and triple the skills (see the DHS report: Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment [pdf] or the everyday experience documented in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette’s article: Iraq vets’ troubles appear long after return). They’ll know how to construct lovely roadside bombs, how to kill without remorse, how to weaponize and disguise until — boom. Your neocon/socially engineered plunder and security will go up in smoke like the cities those Vets will occupy.
“There is no front line in Iraq,” said Col. Charles W. Hoge of the division of psychiatry and neuroscience at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, the lead author of the report published yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. “Individuals who are patrolling the streets will be at higher risk of being involved in combat, but folks who are largely located at one base are also targets of mortar and artillery, and everyone in convoys is a target.”
In other words, these Vets will have faced years in situations where the enemy is all around, where danger lurks around every corner. That makes for a wonderful stew of psychological problems.
On top of all this consider the lack of funding the VA receives for veterans health care (especially mental health treatment), the bureaucratic mismanagement of the military discharge process, the social cost associated with caring for those who won’t be on the street because they’re too crippled and too sick to do anything, and the overall economic impact these wars have had (think debt, lots and lots and lots of debt — about 10,000 years worth of debt). Those impacts will last long after the last soldier comes home (which won’t happen anyway as there will always be another ‘engagement’).
What to do? First: pray – really pray because it does work. Next, advocate for better veterans healthcare, wiser policies, peace, and most of all — vote differently. Voting for the same two parties is no different than voting for the same corrupt politician, excepting that the faces change.
“Got War – blame a Republican
Still have war – blame a Democrat”
The Polish mountaineer group Zakopower has a new release out — Salomanga. Groups like Zakopower, Krywań, Goleć uOrkiestra, and Trebunie Tutki along with traditional and more avant garde crossover groups like Daab are keeping the tradition of Polish mountaineer music – Goralska Muzyka – Highlanders Music – alive and well. Here’s a sampling:
I shall bury a grape stone in the warm fertile soil by my house,
and I’Â’ll kiss the vine twig and gather sweet grapes, my reward,
and I’Â’ll call all my friends to the feast, and love in my heart I will rouse…
Otherwise, what’Â’s the purpose of living in this lasting world?
Dear guests, come to table, I extend you my kind invitation,
tell me straight in my face the opinion of me that you hold,
God almighty will send me forgiveness for my transgression.
Otherwise, what’Â’s the purpose of living in this lasting world?
Dressed in purple, my charming Dali for me will be singing,
dressed in black, I’Â’ll sit bending my head without saying a word,
I’Â’ll be listening enchanted and I’Â’ll die from deep love and sad feeling…
Otherwise, whatÂ’’s the purpose of living in this lasting world?
When the sunset starts swirling and searching the corners around,
May the images float, as if real, again, may they swirl
right in front of my eyes: a blue ox, a white eagle, a trout…
Otherwise, whatÂ’’s the purpose of living at all in this world?
O sacred love of our cherished homeland,
Only noble minds can be moved by you!
Baneful poisons taste good at your command,
No disgrace to bonds and chains will accrue.
You grace with honored scars the cripples’ hand,
You plant in the mind the delights most true,
So long as one can help you and stand by,
We don’t mind misery, don’t mind to die.
Translated by Michal J. Mikos
Święta miłości kochanej ojczyzny,
Czują cię tylko umysły poczciwe!
Dla ciebie zjadłe smakują trucizny
Dla ciebie więzy, pęta niezelżywe.
Kształcisz kalectwo przez chwalebne blizny
Gnieździsz w umyśle rozkosze prawdziwe,
Byle cię można wspomóc, byle wspierać,
Nie żal żyć w nędzy, nie żal i umierać.
By 5 p. m. Monday, revelers stood six deep at Gibson and Sinkiewicz streets, which sounded and felt like a mini-Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
People in red T-shirts with white letters proclaiming —You bet your pierogis I’m Polish,— —Whip me, squirt me,— —Who stole the kiszka— and —I stole the kiszka——”many of them with a beer in one hand and a pussy willow sprig in the other —” whooped and cheered as Buffalo’s third annual Dyngus Day Parade rounded the corner on its way through the heart of Polonia.
Their enthusiasm was matched by the marchers and folks riding floats, flatbed trailers and cars, who danced the polka, tossed candy and occasionally a loaf of rye bread and sprayed the crowd with water blasters.
—This is the best day ever!— declared Christine Galey, 22, of Hamburg, who came to the Polish East Side not quite knowing what to expect, after reading online about this yearly celebration of a formerly obscure ethnic tradition.
—I think it’s better than St. Patrick’s Day,— opined Galey, who despite her Irish last name said she is of Polish and French- Canadian descent. —I knew it was a celebration, but I didn’t know it was one of the biggest Dyngus Day events anywhere.—
That it is —” and getting bigger by the year, said organizers Marty Biniasz and —Airborne Eddie— Dobosiewicz, who have turned what began in 1961 as a fundraiser for the Chopin Singing Society into a community-wide festival known as Dyngus Day Buffalo.
For the uninitiated, Dyngus Day is an unofficial Polish- American holiday, observed with pussy willows and squirt guns, marking the end of Lent, the solemn 40 days of prayer and self-denial leading up to Easter.
More than 75 units and hundreds of participants lined up outside Corpus Christi Catholic Church on Clark Street for the parade, which wound through the historic neighborhood at a deliberate pace, passing Broadway Market and the Adam Mickewicz Library and Dramatic Circle on Fillmore Avenue before turning back to Central Terminal, site of the largest Dyngus party.
—Never underestimate the power of the pussy willow,— Dobosiewicz quipped as he and Biniasz walked behind a float near the end of the parade route…
The appointment ceremony will take place at the Polish Hall in Portland on May 31, 2009. The day’s events begin with an 11am Holy Mass for veterans of WWII at St Stanislaus Church followed by a reception and appointment ceremony at 12:15pm in the Polish Hall in Portland.
The sad fact is the all of this could be over; we could disengage from our foreign adventures. Unfortunately, the escapades of the Bush neocons are being continued by the social engineers of the Obama administration.