Freedom is not free. Sometimes, it comes at a very high cost. 

POLISH AMERICAN CONGRESS
SOUTH JERSEY DIVISION
HONORS THE MEN AND WOMAN VETERANS FROM
ST. JOSEPH'S CHURCH
SOUTH CAMDEN
WWII 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. 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 were 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, NJ 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.  I      
 

As Saint Joseph's was and is a predominantly Polish Parish, some of the men here had either changed their names to more "American" versions or had alternate spellings. There are at least four instances of that on this monument, perhaps more. In one case, that of John Shuler, a misspelling was made when the monument was engraved- he is named Shulek on this monument. Similar errors exist through many of the monuments in the county. One must take into consideration that these are all erected years after the fact, and in the pre-computer era of paper records, accurate data was far harder to come by.

Alfred Mrowczynski

John Moses

Chester Gdowik

John Napiorkowski

       If you have information or pictures which you would like to see included on this website, please contact me by e-mail.
                                        Phil Cohen  
                                        phil552@reagan.com
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 7/18/43
Boleslaw Dyl TSGT ARMY 47th Infantry Regiment
9th Infantry Division		 1916 2/5/45
Gustave Dzingoski
Gustave Dzingoski		 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. Napiorkowksi, 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 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 Ordinance 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

413rd Bomber Squadron
96th Bomber Group, Heavy

   10/9/1943

CLICK ON THE BLUE LINKS FOR MORE ABOUT EACH INDIVIDUAL

1946 Map of Camden

The monument was originally located in Pulaski Park,
just southeast of Cooper Hospital, on Haddon Avenue
Camden Courier-Post - October 1, 1936
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Camden Courier-Post

October 12, 1936

Click on Images
to Enlarge

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HST Rohna

        On November 26th, 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 of the coast of North Africa. From Camden Frank Ballerino, Michael Carr, Michael Yachus,  Lewis Riondino, Joseph H. Johnson and Stephen V. Koscianski (memorialized on this monument); 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 were lost that day, along 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
Read the article or see the video
     

CAMDEN COUNTY NJ
  MONUMENTS & WAR MEMORIALS

       Click links to visit web-pages on these memorials, and to visit "virtual memorials" to Camden County's fallen heroes.

GUEST BOOK & E-MAIL

     As of this date, November 1, 2013 I have not erected a guest-book. Please e-mail all comments to phil552@reagan.com. If you would like your comment published in the upcoming guest-book, please let me know.

Phil Cohen
Camden NJ

St. Joseph's Church
10th and Mechanic Streets, Camden, New Jersey
 
Another St. Joseph's Church web-page

More Polish Community in Camden Links
The
POLISH-AMERICAN CITIZENS CLUB
St. Joseph's Polish Athletic Association
CAMDEN COUNTY POLISH AMERICAN REPUBLICAN CLUB


The CASIMIR PULASKI MONUMENT
A Camden Story: Reflections and memories of Rich Brodowicz
A Polish Camden Kitchen
POLISH HEROES WAR MEMORIAL
at COOPER RIVER PARK

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