ASSOCIATED BENCHMARKS FOR THE YEAR 2026 IN THE HISTORY OF THE AAFKWP

23rd Annual Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conference will take place in the Omar Bradley Room of the Thayer Hotel, USMA, West Point, NY on April 24, 2026 

         23rd Anniversary Year of the Founding and Incorporation of the American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point (AAFKWP)

23rd Anniversary Year of the First Annual Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conference of the AAFKWP Commensurate with Its Founding  

113th Anniversary Year of the Kosciuszko Statue that was Added in 1913 to the Original Kosciuszko Monument of 1828

20th Anniversay Year of the AAFKWP's having been deemed to be a 501c3 entity by the U. S. Internal Revenue Service

198th Anniversary Year of the Dedication of the Kosciuszko Monument Cornerstone by the U. S. Military Academy 

 198th Anniversary Year of the U. S. Military Academy's 1st Annual National Tadeusz Kosciuszko Observance

280th Anniversary Year of the Birth of Tadeusz Kosciuszko

208th Anniversary Year of the Death of Tadeusz Kosciuszko

[Please note that some aspects of this page are still in progress.]

Details of This Year's 23nd Annual Kosciuszko Conference Will Remain Posted for Illustrative Purposes Until February 15, 2026: 

  Conference Morning and Afternoon Session speakers (some tentative at this point) to date are combined here, but will be separated and placed in order as appropriate during the coming days. 

** As is the practice of the Association (i.e., the AAFKWP), both a continental breakfast and lunch will be served on site in the General Omar Bradley Room so as to maintain all participants in one location for the convenience of all conferees and to start on time. The final number of identified Conference featured speakers might increase, or be modified, and will be posted as such on this website. For the time being, all participants are to be as follows:be as follows: 

**** Anthony Joseph Bajdek, New Hampshire, AAFKWP Founder and President; Retired Associate Dean and Senior Lecturer in History, Northeastern University, Boston, MA; Honorary Member of the Kosciuszko Mound Committee in Krakow, Poland; published author; AAFKWP Welcome and Conference Overview.

**** Bridget Ann Serchak, Daufgter of COL, USA (1934-2026), USMA Class of 1958 and Honorary Board Member of the AAFKWP

**** Stephen N. Olejasz, Virginia, Lieutenant Colonel, United States Army (ret.), Founding AAFKWP Executive Vice President, and Former Assistant Professor, USMA Department of History.

**** Steven W. Gilland: Lieutenant General, United States Army, and 61st Superintendent, United States Military Academy; past Commander, NATO Allied Land Command in Izmir, Turkey; and USMA Alumnus: Welcome to West Point.

**** Marek Chodakiewicz, Ph.D., Professor of History, Indtitute of World Politics, and holder of its Kosciuszko Chair on Polish Studies, and Director of the Center of International Studies

**** Tomasz K. Kowalik, Ph.D., USMA alumnus Class of 1999. Currently, a Brigadier General in the Army of the Republic of Poland who earned his doctoral degree post-West Point, from the Maria Curie-Skladowska University of Lublin, Poland. 

**** John Lenczowski, Ph.D., Long-standing advocate strong American support for Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty from 1983-1987, as Director of of European and Doviet Affairs at the U.S. National Security Council and principal Soviet Affairs to counter  

**** James S. Pula, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of History, Tulane University, Kosciuszko biographer, and prolific writer of Early American History and American Polonia, author of "The Polish American Enclyclopedia," copyright 2011 by MacFarland and Company, Inc., Jefferson, North Carolina and London. 

**** Nieczyslaw Rokosz, Ph.D., dr. hab., Professor of History, Jagiellonian History, Krakow, Poland

**** Robert A. Vitas, Ph.D., Illinois, Chair, Lithuanian Research and Studies Center, Chicago, IL; distinguished author Lithuanian affairs,  and educator.

Finally, at the conclusion of academic aspect of the Conference: 

**** Cynthia J. Bajdek, New Hampshire, AAFKWP Founding Secretary / Treasurer, will deliver a financial report to all AAFKWP members in good standing (i.e., in having paid annual dues and other fees, e.g., annual conference, through 2025). This business meeting aspct of the Conference is a requirement of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the State in which the AAFKWP as founded and incorporated in 2003. 

and a special thanks to: 

**** Christopher J. Bajdek, Massachusetts, by engineering profession the Director of Noise and Vibration for VHB engineers, scientists, planners, and designers in Watertown, MA. His AAFKWP function as the Senior Vice President for Federal and State Regulatory Compliance isn't as evident as is his role in our annual Conference operations. In contrast, Stephen N. Olejasz continues to serve as the Founding AAFKWP Executive Vice Presisent for sustaining our Association's positive relations with West Point, and the Embassies of Poland and Lithuania. Simply summarized, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts requires that one of the AAFKWP's principal officers, for purpose of its obligatory filings with the U.S. Internal Revene Service, alomg with the Commonwealth's Office of the Attorney General, sbe a resident of Massachusetts which I (Anthony Joseph Bajdek) had been able to satisfy until the end of June 2011 when my wife Cynthia and I moved our residence to New Hampshire.

 All Aspects of time for the 'Kosciuszko Day' Observance scheduled for Saturday, April 26, 2025 at West Point are firmly in place and now confirmed as such by a staff member of the Public Affairs Office of West Point, as follows:

• 08:00 a.m.: Kosciuszko Memorial Mass, Cadet Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity, United States Military Academy, West Point, NY.
• 09:20 a.m.: USMA Cadet Drill Team on the Plain.
• 09:30 a.m.: USMA Cadet Review on the Plan.
• 11:30 a.m.: Annual USMA Kosciuszko Memorial Ceremony at the Kosciuszko Monument paid for and dedicated by the USMA Corps of Cadets on July 4, 1828
• 01:00 p.m.: Annual Kosciuszko Day Memorial Luncheon, General bGeorge Washington Room, Thayer Hotel, 674 Thayer Road, USMA, West Point, NY (By prepaid reservation only. See below).

____________________________________________________________________________________________

REGISTRATION - Reservation Form (print, complete, enclose your check, and mail this form as noted):

I have enclosed a check made payable to: American Association of the Friends of Kosciuszko at West Point (or AAFKWP for short) in the total amount of $ __________ as follows:

• Number of registration(s) ______ for the Conference at $50 (including continental breakfast and buffet lunch) per person for a total of $ ________ to be held in the General Omar Bradley Room, Thayer Hotel.
• Number of reservation(s) ______ for the Saturday luncheon at $50 per person for a total of $ _________ to be held in the General George Washington Room, Thayer Hotel.
• I also wish to renew my dues for 2025 ($25 for an individual annual membership; $60 for an annual organization membership; or $150 for a lifetime membership solely an individual person, not for a corporate entity or organization which must renew its $60 membership annually): $ _______.                                                                                                
• (NOTE: Once Lifetime Members have paid their membership fee, no other payment of annual renewal of dues is necessary from an individual person.)   
• I wish to donate $25 to support the attendance of one West Point cadet at the Annual Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conference on April 25, 2025  ____, and/or the Kosciuszko Memorial Luncheon on April 26, 2025: _____.

NOTE: For children 5 and under, there is no luncheon charge. The luncheon charge for children 6 to 12 is $20.

Finally, please note that those conferees wishing to dine after the Conference in the Hotel's General Douglas MacArthur Riverview Room must arrange to do so on their own initiative and their own separate arrangements and payment made directly to the Thayer Hotel dining room waitstaff. Only the Conference panelist speakers will have tables reserved for them, in the same general area of the MacArthur Riverview Room.  

NAME (first and last)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________

STREET ADDRESS:

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

CITY / TOWN / STATE / ZIP: ________________________________________________________________________

PHONE NUMBER: __________________________________________________________________________

EMAIL: _______________________________________

PLEASE NOTE: Payments for either any aspect, or all, of the above, must be received at the address below, no later than April 10, 2026. Without pre-payments and reservations, no admittance to the Conference and Luncheon respectively will be permitted on the day of the event.

Mail completed Registration - Reservation form and check to: Cynthia J. Bajdek, Treasurer, AAFKWP, 45 Reflection Drive, Hudson, NH 03051, as soon as possible, but no later than APRIL 10, 2026. It should be made payable to the AAFKWP, for short. 

THIS YEAR WE ARE PLEASED TO INTRODUCE AN ON-LINE REGISTRATION PROCESS, AS WELL AS the Venmo Payment OPTION. TO GAIN ACCESS TO THIS ON-LINE AVAILABILITY, PLEASE CLICK ON:

                                                                                                                         https://forms.gle/4oeFcu9fruvySspFA

Questions? Call Peter J. Walentowicz (973) 432-8841 or Cynthia J. Bajdek at (508) 735-4008.

Thank you for your continued support!