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"Polish Army"

The following message taken from email on NE Roots list. Marge has kindly given her permission for it to be posted in hopes of helping others.


Dear Rooters,

I just discovered a resource for finding information on ones Polish ancestors. While following different links from the Omaha Public Library's page, I came across a web site with an index of Polish Americans who joined the "Polish Army in France." They were also known as "Haller's Army". During WW I the French supported an Army of Polish immigrants to fight in the war. I did a search on my Polish surnames and found a match. Lo and behold! I found a Great Uncle of mine. The URL with the index is http://pgsa.org/polish-history/hallers-army-index/. You can do a search on a name or you can put in just the city or just the state. I just did a search on the state to see who else from Nebraska was on this index.

Another URL with more information on Haller's Army is http://feefhs.org/links/Poland/pafi/halrdesc.html.

When I located the naturalization papers of this GrUncle, one of the documents included was "Form 169, U.S. Department of Labor, Naturalization Service; Affidavit in Support of Petition for Citizenship based on Military, Naval, or Sea Service". It indicated he was a member of the Polish Army. At the time I had never heard of the Polish Army. My GrUncle was granted citizenship based on his service in the Polish Army. There's a monument to some of the men in the Polish Army in St. John's Cemetery in Omaha, Nebraska - one of which is my GrUncle. I transcribed the names from the memorial and they are located at http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nesarpy/cemeteri.htm

For a $10.00 fee I sent a request to the Polish Genealogical Society of America for copies of the papers my GrUncle filled out. I received the papers today. Information it includes is name, address, age, date of birth, place of birth, marital status, name and address of closest relative in the U.S., name and address of closest relative in Poland, whether they are a citizen of the U.S., and a description of the person. If a researcher has been unable to find naturalization papers for someone, this offers a possible resource for finding an ancestor's birth place as well as the name and relationship of someone in Poland.

I hope this is of help to someone.

Marge Galus Sandlier
Forget Me Not address is - http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~sandlier/index.htm
Researching GALUS, KUDRON, PAPROCKI, ZACH, BRAUN, THOMAS

Postscript: I forgot to mention, the form is in Polish, but the PGSA sends a blank English version so you can translate the questions on the form.


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