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Nest 52 Member Receives French Legion of Honor

Santa Rosa, Calif. (PMN)—Guests gathered to witness Santa Rosa resident and San Francisco Polonia activist Marion Grohoski receive the French Medal of the Legion of Honor from Consul General Pierre-Francois Mourier at the Consular residence in San Francisco in early January, 2009. It is one of the highest honors bestowed by France.

Grohoski, 85, who is a member of Nest 52, Rochester, New York, was a Polish soldier who had never lived in Poland. He is one of the few remaining veterans of the famous First Polish Armored Division, composed of expatriate Poles and others who fought the Germans starting in 1944. He was born in China, the son of a Polish mining engineer who had worked in Alaska and Asia. He graduated from a Polish high school in Harbin, Manchuria, in 1939, the year the Germans overran Poland to begin World War II in Europe.

He continued his studies at an American college in Japan, but the situation became tense after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He then got diplomatic status from the Polish embassy in Japan and was able to leave the country as part of an exchange of Allied and Axis diplomatic personnel. He ended up in Scotland, where he joined the Polish army.

He was commissioned as an officer, and later was a tank commander. The Polish unit, which was attached to the Canadian army, participated in the battle for Normandy in 1944 and had a key role in the battle of the so-called Falaise Gap, a major turning point in the war to liberate France.

The First Polish Armored Division also fought in Belgium, Holland and Germany. Grohoski, who was promoted to captain, received four Polish and three British decorations.

Grohoski later moved to the United States, and in 1960, to San Francisco. He worked as an automobile parts executive and retired in 1988.

A video made by Santa Rosa high school student, A. Young, was presented at the French consulate featuring an interview with Mr. and Mrs. Grohoski. In addition, photographs and stories reminded the assemblage of the toll six years took on the lives of European citizens and affected the rest of the world