What follows are a few of the photographs of our 19th Annual Tadeusz Koscuszko Conference that had occurred at West Point in the Thayer Hotel on April 22, 2022.

Dean Bajdek spoke on the topic: "Eastern and Central Borderlands of Europe from the Perspective of My Maternal and Paternal Family Origins."

The involved panelists will be identified as such.

Dr. Baskerville spoke on the topic, "The European Union and NATO Borderlands with Russia."

Dr. Biskupski spoke on the topic, "Tragedy as History: Poland and Ukraine." 

Dr. Pula spoke on the topic, "Kosciuszko, an Engineer in America."

Dr. Kruszewski spoke on the topic, "My Adolescent and Teenage Years as a Polish Resistance Fighter Against Nazi German Occupation of Warsaw."

Dr. Halicka spoke on the topic of her book, "Borderlands Biography: Z. Anthony Kruszewski in Wartime Europe and Postwar America."

Director Czop spoke on the topic, "Current Borderlands Crisis from the Perspective of Polish Americans."

Dr. Vitas spoke on the topic, "Current Borderlands Crisis from the Perspective of Lithuanian Americans."

Coalition Member Makaranka spoke on the topic, "Current Borderlands Crisis from the Perspective of Belarusian Americans."

Reflecting the diminishing number of Poland's freedom fighters in World War II.

Christopher J. Bajdek, an AAFKWP Vice President, deserves full credit for a successful ZOOM-based endeavor that involved some 50 participants, two speakers of which participated from Paris, France. He is the son of Anthony J. Bajdek. 

For those who are familar with West Point's Kosciuszko Monument that was dedicated on July 4, 1828, the first part of the explanation of the photograph on the right, taken on April 23, 2022, is self-evident. That Monument of 1828 consisted of the base and fluted column designed by John H. B. Latrobe. The United States Military Academy Corps of Cadets paid for the cost of producing the base and fluted column via a voluntary monthly assessment of 25 cents from each Cadet. In 1913, the eight and a half foot high bronze statue of Kosciuszko was secured atop the fluted column. It was paid for by  the Polish "clergy and laity" of the United States. This AAFKWP website contains relatively considerable photographic and text reference documentation of the Kosciuszko Monument of West Point.

Given the fact that the Monument's base and column had been dedicated on July 4, 1828, it established the fact that the Kosciuszko Monument of West Point would become the world's second oldest national monument raised in honor of his memory. The world's oldest national monument raised to his memory is the Kosciuszko Mound (Kopiec Kosciuszki in Polish) of Krakow, Poland that was completed five years earlier in 1823. 

In 2021, during an annual inspection of all of West Point's monuments, the fluted column of the Academy's Kosciuszko Monument was found to have developed structural cracks. Accordingly, the statue was removed and placed in storage at West Point until a determination of the causes for the cracks in the fluted column can be finalized, and the column replaced. In the photograph associated with this  text, one can readily see that, whereas the base of the original Kosciuszko Monument remains, the column and statue have been removed.

The irony of the current situation of the Kosciuszko Monument follows upon a beautification process of the grounds surrounding its placement that occured over several prior years. All of which demonstrates the United States Military Academy's commitment to sustain honoring the "Patron Saint of West Point" in perpetuity.

The second part of the explanation of the photograph of April 23, 2023 must address the fact only a relatively small number (no more than 50) of non-United States Military Academy persons (i.e., ciivilians) had been able to participate in West Point's Annual Kosciuszko Monument Ceremony. In pre-Covid times, typically 200 to 300 or more civilians, mostly Polish American and Lithuanian American devotees of Kosciuszko, participated annually. With the spread of Covid-19 in 2020, there was no comparable Kosciuszko Monument Ceremony at all that year. The same was true in 2021. In 2022, West Point's Superintendent had another difficult decision concerning the Kosciuszko Monument Ceremony to make. Above all other ancillary aspects involved with addressing that decision, his first obligation was to protect the health of every member of West Point's Corps of Cadets, especially so for the graduating seniors, whose first posting as commissioned United States Army 2d Liuetenants typically had to replenish the vanancies caused by normal attrition (e.g., retirements) at higher commissioned levels of Army military service. 

The Superintendent, therefore, could best insure the health of his graduating seniors by limiting their exposure to non-family members of the general public, not all of which members of the general public have received Covid vaccinations.