A Page to Memorialize Cadets from Poland Who Have Become Integral Members of West Point's "Long Grey Line" (The construction of this page is currently in progress.)Highlights and Other News (2018)
Conference / Observance (2019)
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The Cadet herein illustrated is Tomasz Krzysztof Kowalik from Gdansk, Poland, Class of 1999. He went on to earn a Ph.D., from the Marie Curie-Skladowska University of Lublin, Poland. He is currently a Brigadier General in the Army of the Republic of Poland. What appears on this special page originates in AAFKWP President and Founder Anthony J. Bajdek's personal files, one source element of which is the history of the Eastern Massachusetts Division of the Polish American Congress, of wich he had been President from 1999 to 2011, as well as National Vice President for American Affairs from 2004 through 2021. He had also served as President and Founder of the New Hampshire Division of the Polish American Congress from 2011 through 2023. |
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In 2024, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization celebrated its 75th Anniversary. Its history began in 1949 in response to the post-World War II aggressive menace of the Soviet Union laying claim to the post-War nations of Eastern Europe and half of Germany (all of which were known in the West as the "Captive Nations"), the United States provided leadership for establishing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, known as NATO for short. Effectively, therefore, the United States, Canada, Great Britain, Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal initially became the "free world's" bulwark against the Soviet Union's aggressive territorial expansionism. in 1953, West Germany became a NATO member nation, followed by Spain in 1982, The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, and the dissolution of its military entity known as the "Warsaw Pact," Poland was admitted to NATO in 1999, along with the Czech Republic and Hungary. At the time, one of the first West Point Cadets from Poland who graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1999 appropriately, had been Tomasz Krzysztof Kowalik of Gdansk, Poland. As a Cadet over the four years, he had been befriended by United States Army Colonel Daniel Litynski, Ph. D., who had been "head" (i.e., chairman) of the Academy's Electrical Engineering and Computer Science .Department, Upon his retirement from military service at West Point, and earlier in Vietnam earlier, Colonel Litynski was breveted a Brigadier General. His specialty had been photonics. General Litynski graciously invited the AAFKWP's President and Founder, Dean Anthony J. Bajdek and his wife Cynthia to his retirement and breveting ceremony that was held in the Graduate Association Hall, followed by a private reception / luncheon that was held in a tent erected in West Point's historic Kosciuszko Garden. To its everlastimg credit and honor, the United States Military Academy at West Point sustains pristine care of the Garden that Kosciuszko personally built during his service as Engineer-in-Chief making that combat post impregnable to British attack on its land and on the Hudson River itself. |
| This story of one West Point Cadet from Poland who became a United States Military Academy alumnus in 1999 presents an opportunity to write a few words about the related career of a Colonel, later Brigadier General, who served as a model of academic excellence for the benefit of his students. Now in retirement, Daniel M. Litynski, his academic career at West Point had been based on the highest personal standards of academic excellence that he had achieved, and that benefited the Cadets whom he had dedicated himself to educate. Academically, Brigadier General Litynski had earned a Bachelor of Science degree in physics from the Renssellaer Polytechnic Institute, a master of science degree in optics and photonics from the University of Rochester, and a Ph.D. in physics from Rensellaer as well, As a young U. S. Army officer, Litynski had served with Armor and Ordnance units in Vietnam and Germany. After leaving West Point, he extended his career in higher education after West at Western Michigan University where he served from 1999 to 2004 in the successive posts of Dean of the College of Engineering and Applied Science, Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Intrerim President. |
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The photograph on the left was taken of 2nd Lieutenant Tomasz Kowalik's graduation day from West Point, to which my which my wife Cynthia J. Bajdek,and I had been invited to attend, on the football field in Michie Stadium, following the formal graduation ceremony program.. Pictured below on the right side of the page are two women Cadet members of West Point's Kosciuszko Squadron, along with two male West Point Cadets from Poland wearing their distinctive Polish Army dress uniforms, in company with Republic of Poland Major General Krzysztof Nolbert, one of the featured panelists for the AAFKWP's Kosciuszko Conference on May 3, 2024, and also the featured speaker at West Point's annual Kosciuszko Memorial on May 4, 2024. |
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What appears below is the book representing the essence of Tomasz Kowalik's dissertation that he wrote in fulfillment of his doctoral degree requirement at the Marie Curie-Skladowska University in Lublin, Poland..He presented a inscribed copy of it in person at West Point to Dean Bajdek on April 26, 2008. |
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Republic of Poland's Brigadier General Tomasz Krzysztof Kowalik participated remotely from Poland in the AAFKWP's 21st and 22nd Annual Tadeusz Kosciuszko Conferences held in the Thayer Hotel. that occurred in 2023 and 2024 respectively. . |
