Polish Heroes War Memorial
On October 1, 1936 the Polish community in Camden announced that a monument to Casimir Pulaski would be dedicated on October 11. The Pulaski Monument was placed at a park that lay at Benson Street and Haddon Avenue, and the park came to be known as Pulaski Park.
When Camden's Pulaski Park was designated to be the site of a new medical school, the monuments that stood there had to be relocated. The South Jersey Division of the Polish American Congress, along with Polish Army Veterans Post 121 and the Polish American Citizens Committee, raised funds to move the Pulaski Monument to a new site at Park Drive and Route 130 in Pennsauken, N.J., in 1984. A new monument to Thaddeus Kosciusko was dedicated that October.
The two original monuments to Thaddeus Kosciusko and Casimir Pulaski were joined in 1995 by a new monument dedicated to those members of St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church, located at 10th & Liberty Streets in Camden, who gave their lives for our country in World War II. Information from a plaque inside the church was the basis for this monument.
A Note on Names
St. Joseph's was a predominantly Polish parish, and some of the men whose names appear on the monument had Americanized their names or used alternate spellings — there are at least four such instances. In one case the name of John Shuler was engraved as "Shulek," an engraving error. Such errors are common on county war memorials, many of which were erected years after the fact and in an era before computers.
In Memory of Our Fallen Heroes
| name | rank | branch | unit | born | died |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anthony Joseph Bibinski | PFC | Army | 3rd Infantry Division | 2/28/1917 | 11/20/1944 |
| Benjamin W. Bonk | S1C | Navy | USS Escolar | 1924 | 10/19/1944 |
| Louis Bontkowski | PFC | Army | 26th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division | 8/13/1920 | 9/18/1944 |
| Roman Drapinski | SSGT | Army | 53rd Armored Engineer Bn, 12th Armored Division | 1918 | 7/18/1943 |
| Boleslaw Dyl | TSGT | Army | 47th Infantry Regiment, 9th Infantry Division | 1916 | 2/5/1945 |
| Gustave Dzingoski (Gustave Dziengowski) | PVT | AAF | 1911 | 1/6/1943 | |
| Chester Gdowik | PFC | Army | 6th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division | 2/2/1923 | 5/25/1944 |
| Edward Kasper (Edward Kasperowicz, Edward Kasprowicz) | PVT | Army | Company I, 324th Infantry Regiment, 44th Infantry Division | 10/27/1944 | |
| Stephen V. Koscianski | TEC5 | Army | 31st Signal Construction Bn | 5/23/1907 | 11/27/1943 |
| Walter J. Koscianski | PVT | Army | 63rd Signal Battalion | 10/2/1905 | 2/6/1943 |
| Walter E. Laskowski | TEC5 | Army | 1913th Engineer Bn, Aviation | 1/17/1922 | 4/25/1945 |
| John Lozowski | PVT | USMC | 3/8/1923 | 4/4/1943 | |
| Joseph Alphons Matyasik | PVT | Army | 10th Armored Infantry Battalion, 4th Armored Division | 3/5/1945 | |
| John A. Mlynarczyk | CPL | Army | 382nd Infantry Regiment, 96th Infantry Division | 6/4/1919 | 10/28/1944 |
| John Moses | 2LT | AAF | 428th Bomber Squadron | 3/1/1918 | 9/18/1944 |
| Alfred Mrowczynski | PVT | Army | Coast Artillery | 10/2/1923 | 7/13/1944 |
| Joseph F. Murawski | PVT | Army | 707th Tank Battalion | 12/19/1944 | |
| John C. Napiorkowski, Jr. | PFC | Army | 475th Infantry Regiment | 2/7/1923 | 7/27/1944 |
| Frank J. Owsianka, Jr. | PVT | Army | Quartermaster Corps | 9/27/1920 | 3/1/1944 |
| Adam Piekarski | PFC | Army | 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division | 11/22/1914 | 11/26/1944 |
| Joseph J. Piotrowski | MM1C | Navy | USS Helena CL-50 | 5/3/1921 | 8/10/1945 |
| Leopold Poduszczak | 2LT | AAF | 333rd Bomber Squadron, 94th Bomber Group, Heavy | 12/21/1916 | 7/26/1943 |
| Henry Popiolek | SSGT | AAF | 10/28/1920 | 9/14/1942 | |
| Stanley Przytula | PFC | Army | 2nd Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division | 8/23/1924 | 1/20/1945 |
| Adam Pszwaro | TEC5 | Army | 133rd Infantry Regiment | 2/2/1914 | 9/19/1944 |
| Angelo B. Romano | PVT | Army | 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Infantry Division | 12/16/1907 | 11/16/1944 |
| Edward Joseph Romanowicz (Joseph Romanowicz) | SC3C | Navy | 5/2/1923 | 1/9/1945 | |
| Joseph N. Shedloski | F1C | Navy | USS Pompano | 8/6/1922 | Aug-Sept 1943 |
| John E. Shuler (John Shulek, John Szuler) | SSGT | Army | 349th Infantry Regiment, 88th Infantry Division | 8/15/1912 | 5/14/1944 |
| Francis P. Scandell (Francis P. Skedzielewski) | 2LT | AAF | 484th Bomber Group | 1/3/1921 | 5/10/1944 |
| Chester Smurlo | PVT | USMC | 2/8/1923 | 6/17/1944 | |
| Chester A. Stelmach | 2LT | AAF | 5/5/1923 | 8/9/1944 | |
| Raymond A. Szwak | PFC | Army | 513th Parachute Infantry Regt., 17th Airborne Division | 9/25/1926 | 3/24/1945 |
| Walter Trynski | TEC5 | Army | Signal Corps | 6/27/1919 | 7/6/1947 |
| Bruno S. Ulak | 1LT | AAF | 698th Ordnance Company, Aviation | 9/2/1914 | 9/7/1944 |
| Frank Urbaniak | S1C | Navy | USS Terror CM-5 | 1925 | 1945 |
| Joseph Stanley Watson | ENS | Navy | 1/4/1924 | 3/6/1946 | |
| Edward Wierciszewski | PVT | Army | 46th Infantry Battalion, 5th Armored Division | 4/13/1945 | |
| Teddy A. Yurkiewicz | SSGT | AAF | 413th Bomber Squadron, 96th Bomber Group, Heavy | 10/9/1943 |
Thaddeus Kosciusko Monument
Casimir Pulaski Monument
1946 Map of Camden
HMTS Rohna
On November 26, 1943 twelve young men from Camden County died together when the troop transport HMTS Rohna was struck by a German guided glider bomb and sank off the coast of North Africa. From Camden were Frank Ballerino, Michael Carr, Michael Yachus, Lewis Riondino, Joseph H. Johnson, and Stephen V. Koscianski (memorialized on this monument); also lost that day were Harry V. Taylor Jr. of Haddonfield, William McKeon of Blackwood, Merl Reagle of Lindenwold, Carl Johanson and Jacob Kessler Jenkins of Pennsauken, and Elmer F. Day of Merchantville, along with several other men from Southern New Jersey. In total, 1,015 men were lost, but the story was never told to the families or the general public for over 57 years due to wartime censorship.
- The Rohna Disaster — Camden County Internet War Memorial
- The Rohna Survivors Memorial Association
- MSNBC Coverage — Tom Brokaw
Polish Community in Camden
- The Casimir Pulaski Monument
- St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association
- Camden County Polish American Republican Club
- Polish-American Citizens Club
- A Camden Story: Reflections and Memories of Rich Brodowicz
- A Polish Camden Kitchen
- St. Joseph's Church, Camden
Camden County, N.J. War Memorials
Tag: polish-heroes-war-memorial
Chester J. Gdowik
Private First Class Chester J. Gdowik of 947 Jackson Street, Camden, served with the 6th Armored Infantry Battalion, 1st Armored Division. A South Camden native who worked in the machine shop at New York Shipbuilding before his induction, he was killed in action in Italy on May 25, 1944.
Camden County N.J. — Monuments & War Memorials
A directory of Camden County, N.J. war memorials, listing monuments by municipality with links to memorial pages for World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, and other conflicts.
Casimir Pulaski Monument
The Casimir Pulaski Monument was dedicated in Camden, N.J. on October 11, 1936 at Pulaski Park (Benson Street and Haddon Avenue), the former City Hall site. In 1984 it was moved to Cooper River Park in Pennsauken, where it stands as part of the Polish Heroes War Memorial.
Polish Hero Honored Here
More than 5,000 persons — the biggest Polish gathering in Camden's history — attended the October 11, 1936 unveiling of the Casimir Pulaski monument in Pulaski Square, with speeches by Mayor Frederick von Nieda, Monsignor Arthur B. Strenski, Congressman Charles A. Wolverton, and Polish consul Dr. Szygowski.
Pulaski Monument Will Be Dedicated Here on October 11
Announcement that a monument to Brigadier General Casimir Pulaski would be dedicated on October 11, 1936, in Pulaski Square, Camden — the site of the old City Hall — with a parade and ceremonies involving the 32 units of the United Polish Organizations.