Steve’s Genealogy Blog

In the course of searching for records on my Niedzialkowski relatives, I found a World War II Draft Registration Card for Emil Niedzialkowski in Waterbury, Connecticut. While I am not aware of any relatives who lived in Waterbury, Connecticut, what caught my eye was the fact that Emil was born in Mosaki, Poland, the birthplace of many of my Niedzialkowski ancestors.

World War II Draft Registration Card for Emil Niedzialkowski - Front

World War II Draft Registration Card for Emil Niedzialkowski - Back

SOURCE: “U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942”, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 13 May 2008), Emil Niedzialkowski, serial no. U1618, order no. not stated, Draft Board 15A, Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut; citing Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration, NARA microfilm publication M1962, roll 35.

Click on the images above to enlarge them. Click on the link for a PDF copy of the World War II Draft Registration Card for Emil Niedzialkowski.

The record states that:

• Emil Niedzialkowski resided at 1105 N. Main St., Wtby (Waterbury), New Haven County, Conn.;
• His Serial Number was U1618;
• His telephone number was 43075;
• He was 59 years old and was born on 16 Jul 1883 in Mosaki, Poland;
• He listed Mrs. Emil Niedzialkowski at 1105 N. Main St. as someone who would always know his address;
• His employer was Waterbury Manufacturing Co., North Main St., Wtby, New Haven, Conn.;
• He was of the white race, 5′7″ tall, 185 lbs., with blue eyes, black hair, and ruddy complexion;
• He had no other obvious physical characteristics;
• His card was signed by Mary Elizabeth Mongeau, registrar for Local Board 15A, Wtby, Conn.
• He registered on 27 Apr 1942.

I don’t know who Emil was or how he is connected to my family. The fact that he was born in Mosaki is a pretty good clue that he is related to my Niedzialkowski ancestors. I’ll have to look up his baptismal record in the church records for Krasne and trace his ancestry to see if and how he is related to my family.

Copyright © 2008 by Stephen J. Danko

My grandfather, Michael Danko, registered for the World War II draft in the fourth registration conducted in 1942.

The fourth registration, also known as the old man’s registration, was officially conducted on 27 April 1942. All men born on or between 28 April 1877 and 16 February 1897 (between 45 and 64 years old) were required to register.

WWII Draft Registration Card - Michael Danko - Front

WWII Draft Registration Card - Michael Danko - Back

SOURCE: “U.S. World War II Draft Registration Cards, 1942,” digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 November 2007), Michael Danko, serial no. U3085, order no. not stated, Draft Board 166, Worcester, Worcester County, Massachusetts; citing Selective Service Registration Cards, World War II: Fourth Registration, NARA microfilm publication M2090, roll 36.

Click on the link for a PDF copy of the World War II Draft Registration Card for Michael Danko. This card provides the following information:

• Michael Danko of 15 Henchman St. Worcester, Worcester, Mass. was registered on 26 April 1942 by Ellen M. Gilligan, Registrar for Local Board #166 Worcester, Mass.
• His Serial Number was U3085; no Order Number was provided
• His mailing address was the same as his place of residence
• He had no telephone
• He was 64 yrs old and was born on 22 Sept. 1877
• He was born in Nienadrwa (sic) Poland
• The person who would always know is address was Mrs Mary Danko, 15 Henchman St. Worcester, Mass.
• He was unemployed
• He was of the White Race; he was 5 ft 8″ tall and 140′
• He had Blue Eyes, Brown Hair, and Light Complexion
• He wore glasses

Although the registration was officially conducted on 27 April 1942, my grandfather registered on the 26th of April. His place of birth is listed as Nienadrwa, Poland. The name of the village is misspelled and the name of the country where he was born is technically incorrect. The correct spelling of the village is Nienadowa. Grandfather was born in 1877 in Galicia (Austria) which, in 1942, was indeed Poland.

My grandfather did not serve in World War II, but three of his four sons did. His son Michael Jr. served as a Shipfitter First Class in the US Navy, his son Joseph served as a Sergeant in the US Army, and his son Francis served as a Seaman First Class in the US Naval Armed Guard. All three sons survived the war.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

Matthew Bielawa’s third lecture on Saturday was about Polish repatriation and resettlement after World War II.

As World War Ii drew to an end, the Allies met to redraw the map of Europe. The United States, USSR, and United Kingdom held three historic meetings at Tehran, Yalta, and Potsdam.

In the end, Poland’s borders moved 200 km west. Poland lost 178,000 sq km to the USSR in the east, but gained 101,000 sq km from Germany in the west.

As a result of these changes in Poland’s borders, there was a massive population exchange. Ethnic Poles in the Ukraine moved west. Ethnic Germans in Poland, moved west. Ethnic Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Lithuanians outside the USSR moved east.

In effect, these movements amounted to government sanctioned ethnic cleansing.

Understanding these movements helps explain why Polish relatives no longer live where they did before World War II, helps one locate records regarding resettlement, find relatives who moved to different regions of Poland, and understand how relatives born in Lviv died hundreds of kilometers to the west.

After World War II, Poles fled westward for many reasons including fear of the Soviets (remembering the events in 1939) and fear of Ukrainian nationalists “Banderowcy”. Many people thought the relocation was temporary. It was not. Theoretically, those relocated did so voluntarily and were compensated.

Relocation involved a difficult journey on crowded trains with lack of food, freezing temperatures in winter, and massive delays.

On occasion, those being relocated were stuck in train stations as they waited for the Germans to leave the war-damaged houses that were to become the new homes of the displaced.

Challenges to the genealogist include finding the location to which people were relocated, dealing with many different archives across national borders, and dealing with changing names of villages as Polish villages became Ukrainian and German villages became Polish.

The Polish government created the agency Państwowy Urząd Repatriacyjny” or PUR, to oversee the resettlement after World War II. Documents created by this agency include:

• Registration lists of repatriates and resettlers
• Village and town records of repatriates and resettlers
• letters concerning individuals
• memos regarding the living situations, transportation, and conditions of the people

The collection of papers assembled by PUR is found all over Poland, mostly in the State Archives closest to the location with which the documents are concerned. Unfortunately, the documents in the PUR collection are sorted by county (Powiat) and not by the names of the people mentioned in the documents.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

My grandmother, Marianna Dziurzyńska, was born in Sielnice, Galicia (parish of Dylągowa), married Michał Dańko, moved to Nienadowa, Galicia with her husband, and finally emigrated to the United States in May 1909. She probably knew little of the fate of the family she left behind in Poland, but undoubtedly worried about them as the area in which she was born was plunged into the Great War and later was shattered by World War II.

I have not yet determined how Wiktor Dziurzyński is related to my grandmother. My grandmother’s family and Wiktor’s family resided in the same village in the same time frame, and both families changed their surname from Dziura to Dziurzyński in the early 20th century while still in Galicia. Wiktor was probably a cousin of my grandmother, but discovering the exact relationship will depend on finding church records from the parish of Dylągowa, records that have not yet been microfilmed by the Family History Library.

The following biography of Wiktor Dziurzyński is based in part on a Polish language account of the events written by Wiktor’s daughter Lucyna.

The Early Life of Wiktor Dziurzyński

Wiktor Dziurzyński was born on 15 September 1906 in Sanok, Galicia, about 15 miles south of Sielnice and Dylągowa where his parents were born. By 1930, Wiktor resided in Toruń with his brother Ludwik.

Wiktor worked as a photographer, but later attended the Police Academy in Most Wielki. He completed his training and was sent to Łopatyn to work.

In 1932, Wiktor married a wealthy young woman named Helena Anna Łukawiecka, the daughter of a leading butcher who owned his own shop and slaughterhouse.

Wiktor was later sent to Warsaw (where his daughter Lucyna was born), Zloczów (where his son Kazimierz was born), Kopyczynce, and Tłuste/Zaleszczyki (now in Ukraine).

The Russian Invasion of Poland 

On 17 September 1939, when Russia invaded Poland at the beginning of World War II, Wiktor was in Tłuste/Zaleszczyki. Being a police officer, Wiktor was pursued by the Russian army as one of the ”hardened and uncompromising enemies of Soviet Authority” and he fled to Romania.

Wiktor was captured and sent to a camp in Ostashkov, Russia. From there, he sent his family a nearly illegible letter written with red crayon on 27 Nov 1939 and two postcards written on 27 December 1939 and 27 January 1940.

His wife Helena wrote to him, but never knew if her letters reached him because he didn’t mention anything about her letters in either of his postcards to her. Soon, however, the letters and postcards from Wiktor stopped coming.

A Forgotten Odyssey - Removal to Kazakhstan 

On 13 April 1940, the Russians removed Wiktor’s wife Helena and her two children to Kazakhstan (part of the “Gulag Archipelago”). News of these forced relocations was largely ignored or covered up by the West in order not to confront Stalin, whose assistance was needed in the fight against Hitler.

Helena continued to write to Wiktor from Kazakhstan. She didn’t hear back until, in 1941, she received a postcard with a notation in Russian that read “addressee departed”.

The Katyn Forest Massacre

Helena later learned that the prisoners in Ostashkov along with prisoners in nearby Kozielsk and Starobielsk had been slaughtered in 1940, at about the same time she and her children were sent to the Gulag.

Those killed in the Katyn Forest Massacre included about 15,000 officers and soldiers in the Polish army, members of the police force, educators, and others.

In 1943, after invading Russia, Nazi Germany announced the discovery of the mass graves of Polish officers and blamed the Soviets. Russia responded by blaming the Nazis for the massacre and declared that the Nazis were trying to drive a wedge between the Allies.

Poland requested that the International Red Cross be sent to investigate the graves. Russia responded by declaring that Poland had sided with Nazi Germany and severed relations with Poland.

Not until 03 October 1990 did Russia acknowledge that the NKVD was responsible for the Katyn Forest Massacre.

The Return Home 

On 03 June 1946, after six years in captivity, Wiktor’s wife and children were allowed to return to Poland. The family returned to Helena’s parents’ home in Łopatyn, bringing with them an envelope with their former address in Kazakhstan, an unredeemed card for sugar, and a repatriation card allowing them to return to Poland.

After the war, the borders of Poland were realigned. The family’s home in Łopatyn was now located in Ukraine and the family was forced to relocate to a Cieszyn, a village within the new borders of Poland.

For more information on these events during World War II, see A Forgotten Odyssey, The Biography of Katarzyna Dańko, and Wiktor Dziurzyński and the Katyn Forest Massacre on this blog, and WWII, the Story of the Katyn Massacre Becomes a Movie on Jasia’s Creative Gene blog.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

I spent all day Saturday working on my class assignments for the National Institute for Genealogical Studies. One of the assignments for the class in US Military Records was to surf the web and report on interesting and useful websites relating to Military Records. Here is my response:

Since all my grandparents immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, my interests in military records center on 20th century records, especially about the US Naval Armed Guard. My father and one of my maternal uncles served in the US Naval Armed Guard, a branch of the military service that few people know about.

The World War II U.S. Naval Armed Guard and World War II U.S. Merchant Marine website at http://www.armed-guard.com/ provided me with a whole lot of information about both the Merchant Marine and the now-defunct Armed Guard. The site includes photos, information, and Armed Guard Manuals, including one for the five inch thirty eight gun on the Liberty Ships.

Wikipedia includes a brief article about the United States Navy Armed Guard at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy_Armed_Guard.

The Naval Armed Guard Service in World War II website at http://www.history.navy.mil/faqs/faq104-1.htm includes pages that describe what Armed Guard records are available and where they are located.

The U.S. Naval Armed Guard Casualties During World War II webpage at http://www.usmm.org/armedguard.html lists the names of those members of the Armed Guard who were wounded or killed in World War II. The companion page for U.S. Merchant Marine Casualties during World War II at http://www.usmm.org/casualty.html provides the names of those members of the Merchant Marine who were wounded or killed in World War II.

When I have a bit more time, I’ll write more about the US Naval Armed Guard and the US Merchant Marine.

Copyright © 2007 by Stephen J. Danko

My cousin, Jack Arnold Gibson was posthumously awarded the Silver Star and the Purple Heart.

The Silver Star

The Silver Star is awarded for gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States.  The Silver Star is the third highest military decoration that can be awarded to a member of the United States Armed Forces.

The Purple Heart

The Purple Heart is awarded to those who were wounded or killed in any action against an enemy of the United States.

Of all the people in my family who served in World War II, there was only one combat death - my cousin Jack Arnold Gibson.  Jack was the eldest son of my Aunt Sophie Danko and her husband Clark Gibson.  Jack was also the first grandchild of my grandparents, Michał Dańko and Marianna Dziurzyńska.

The following description of the circumstances of his death are excerpted from Captain Edmund G. Love’s book The 27th Infantry Division in World War II.

The Third Platoon had moved down through this draw an hour before without opposition of any kind.  They had found one cave which they grenaded and investigated, but there seemed to be no life in it so they had moved on by without incident.  The 2d Platoon, now coming upon this same cave was to run into trouble, however.  Pfc. Perry Hill, who as acting as lead scout, came across a Japanese soldier lying just outside the cave mouth.  The enemy was playing dead, a fact which Hill discovered by poking him, so the rifleman finished off the actor, “giving a little truth to his lie.”  When this happened, however, Hill heard movement inside the cave and decided that it was full of enemy.  His called Medina who, in turn, called Sgt. Jack Gibson of the engineers to come down with his flamethrower.  Gibson gave the cave opening one short burst and five enemy came running headlong from their hiding place.  All were killed.  Other Japanese inside the cave immediately opened fire and in the first burst Gibson was mortally wounded and Pfc. Elmer Bottke, Medina’s bazooka man, was killed.  Gibson, who had been badly hit, was in great pain and lying almost directly in front of the cave’s mouth.  Although Medina could by-pass this cave if he was careful, he felt that he should get the wounded man out of danger.  He asked for volunteers, and Pfc. Lathie Simmons and Pfc. Richard King moved forward to try and drag Gibson out of the way.  Both men got within a few feet of the engineer, however, and were then spotted and pinned down.  After several minutes, Gibson was finally prevailed upon to roll down from in front of the cave.  After one or two quick rolls he was far enough for Private First Class Guld to grab him by the feet and drag him out of danger.  Guld gave him aid, but he died later.

SOURCE:  Love, Edmund G., The 27th Infantry Division in World War II (Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1949), 512-513.

Jack was born in Albany, New York on 10 November 1923 and died in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands on 08 July 1944.  Despite the reference to him as sergeant in Captain Love’s book, military records list him as a private.  He is buried in Section 8, Site 464, Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery, Schuylerville, New York.  He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and the Silver Star.

My father earned three service medals in World War II:  The American Campaign Medal, The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, and The World War II Victory Medal.  In 1985, upon the 40th Anniversary of World War II, the Russian Federation awarded a medal to US personnel who participated in the Murmansk Run.

The American Campaign Medal

Awarded for service outside the United States in the American theater for 30 days or within the continental United States for one year between 1941 and 1946.

The European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal

Awarded for service in the European-African-Middle Eastern theater for 30 days or receipt of any combat decoration between 1941 and 1945.

The World War II Victory Medal

Awarded for service in the United States Armed Forces between 1941 and 1946.

The Murmansk Run Medal

Awarded by the government of the Russian Federation upon the 40th anniversary of World War II to all sailors, armed guards, and merchant marines from the United States who participated in convoys to Murmansk during World War II.

Cuff Trim of Seaman First Class

The Navy Seaman’s cuff had one stripe for Apprentice Seaman, two stripes for Seaman Second Class, and three stripes for Seaman First Class.  My father began his naval service as Apprentice Seaman, and was promoted to Seaman Second Class and then to Seaman First Class.

Armed Guard Mark

The Armed Guard Mark was worn midway between the left wrist and the elbow.

As part of the US Naval Armed Guard, my father served on the Liberty Ship the S. S. Daniel Drake on two convoys as part of the Murmansk Run, delivering war supplies to the Eastern Front.  The Murmansk Run was one of the most dangerous assignments for an American serviceman in World War II.

Convoy JW-54A sailed from Liverpool, England to Kola Inlet, Russia (near Murmansk) and on the return trip, Convoy RA-55A sailed from Kola Inlet, Russia to Loch Ewe, Scotland.  The ship’s manifest for the S. S. Daniel Drake that I posted previously was the list of the crew just prior to the departure of Convoy JW-54A, but not necessarily of the same crew as that in Convoy JW-54-A.

Frank Danko in the U.S. Naval Armed Guard

Convoy JW-54A

Convoy JW-54A departed Liverpool on November 15, 1943 and arrived at Kola Inlet on November 24, 1943.  Nineteen vessels made up this convoy:

• COPELAND (Br)
• DANIEL DRAKE (Am)
• EDMUND FANNING (Am)
• EMPIRE CARPENTER (Br)
• EMPIRE CELIA (Br)
• EMPIRE NIGEL (Br)
• FORT YUKON (Br)
• GILBERT STUART (Am)
• HENRY VILLARD (Am)
• JAMES GORDON BENNETT (Am)
• JAMES SMITH (Am)
• JUNECREST (Br)
• MIJDRECHT (Du)
• NORLYS (Pan)
• OCEAN VANITY (Br)
• OCEAN VERITY (Br)
• PARK HOLLAND (Am)
• THOMAS SIM LEE (Am)
• WILLIAM WINDOM (Am)

The convoy was escorted by the following ships:

• Nov. 15-Nov. 18: Destroyers Brissenden, Termagant and Polish Burza
• Nov. 15-Nov. 24: Destroyers Inconstant, Whitehall, corvette Heather and minesweeper Hussar
• Nov. 18-Nov. 25: Destroyers Impulsive, Onslaught, Onslow, Orwell, and Canadian Haida, Huron and Iroquois
• Nov. 18-Nov. 19: Obedient (returned early with defects)
• Nov. 24-Nov. 26: Minesweeper Seagull.
• Nov. 19-Nov. 24: Cruiser cover by Bermuda, Jamaica and Kent, distant cover by battleship Anson, cruiser USS Tuscaloosa, American destroyers Corry, Fitch, Forrest and Hobson.

The Murmansk Run

Convoy RA-55A

Convoy RA-55A departed Kola Inlet on December 22, 1943 and arrived at Loch Ewe on January 1, 1944.  Twenty-three vessels made up this convoy:

• ARTHUR L. PERRY (Am)
• DANIEL DRAKE (Am)
• EDMUND FANNING (Am)
• EMPIRE CARPENTER (Br)
• EMPIRE CELIA (Br)
• EMPIRE NIGEL (Br)
• FORT MCMURRAY (Br)
• FORT YUKON (Br)
• GILBERT STUART (Am)
• HENRY VILLARD (Am)
• JAMES SMITH (Am)
• JUNECREST (Br)
• MIJDRECHT (Du)
• OCEAN STRENGTH (Br)
• OCEAN VANITY (Br)
• OCEAN VERITY (Br)
• PARK HOLLAND (Am)
• RATHLIN (Br)
• SAN ADOLFO (Br)
• THOMAS KEARNS (Am)
• THOMAS SIM LEE (Am)
• WILLIAM L. MARCY (Am)
• WILLIAM WINDOM (Am)

The convoy was escorted, at least in part, by the Acanthus, Ashanti, Athabaskan, Beagle, Belfast, Borage, Dianella, Hound, Hydra, Matchless, Meteor, Milne, Musketeer, Norfolk, Opportune, Poppy, Saumarez, Savage, Scorpion, Seagull, Sheffield, Stord, Virago, Wallflower, and Westcott.

I’ve been taking the opportunity to search the Immigration Collection at Ancestry.com during the Free access to this database through the end of the month of November.  Yesterday, I found the Crew Manifest for the World War II Liberty Ship S. S. Daniel Drake on which my father served.  Today, I found the Crew Manifest for the World War II Liberty Ship S. S. Joaquin Miller, on which my uncle Frederick F. Niedzialkowski served.

Crew Manifest for the S.S. Joaquin Miller (Page 1)

Click on the link for a PDF copy of page 1 of the manifest.  My uncle’s record states that:

• The manifest is that of the S/S Joaquin Miller
• The ship departed Boston and arrived in New York
• Frederick F. Niedzialkowski is listed on line 21
• He had been to sea for 1 year at this point in time
• His position in the ship’s company was Seaman 1/c (Seaman, First Class)
• He was not to be discharged at the port of arrival (New York)
• He was able to read
• He was 19 years old, was of the male sex, was of the Polish race, and his nationality was US
• Fred’s height was 6′1″, and his weight was 176 (pounds)
• He had a scar on his right wrist

Other pages of the manifest show that the ship was operated by the Isthmian Steamship Co., 71 Broadway, New York, and that it arrived in New York on 31 August 1943.  Other pages show that the ship was expected to leave New York on 11 September 1943 and that it stopped in Newport News, Virginia on 14 September 1943, thence heading for foreign locations.

There is also an enigmatic notation on one page that the ship had previously left Bizerte (Tunisia?) on 20 July 1943.  In this notation about Bizerte, the port of departure Boston was crossed out and the port of Bizerte was written in.

I’ll have to check with my cousins to see if they have a copy of Fred’s military records to see if those records include any additional information on Fred’s destinations while in the Navy.