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The Polish Connection: Poles Rescue Newborn In Afghanistan And Helped Birth The US In 1776
by Monica Davis
The discovery of a newborn girl by Polish soldiers highlights centuries of Polish military history around the world. From assisting at the birth of the flegeling United States in 1776, to its current contribution to the multi-national forces in Afghanistan, Polish and American forces have a three century relationship.
A newborn baby girl left abandoned on the side of the road in southern Afghanistan has been discovered by a group of Polish soldiers.
The soldiers came upon the baby, who they have named Pola, after Poland, wrapped in a towel on Wednesday while they were checking a route near their Waghez military base for safety, Defense Ministry spokesman Janusz Walczak told The Associated Press. Readmorehere
Although Poland was crushed by Nazis in WWiI and dragged behind the Iron Curtain by the Russians, the country has a strong military history. Thaddeus Kosciuoskzo, a Polish commoner who had attended a Polish military academy, was a prominent figure in the American Revolution. It was America’s luck that this soldier chose to run off to the colonies with his bride–after her father strongly objected to the marriage.
In 1776, when America was poised on the brink of war with the British, a Pole named Thaddeus Kosciuszko sailed to America and happened to become a prominent figure in the successful American revolution. Kosciuszko had attended the royal military academy in Warsaw, and then took engineering and drafting classes at military academies located in Paris. He wanted to marry Louise Sosnowska, who was the daughter of a prominent, very rich noble lord in Poland. But her father staunchly opposed the marriage, saying that Kosciuszko was only common gentry, and not good enough to marry his daughter. Ignoring the father’s protests, Kosciuszko attempted to elope with Louise, but they were caught and her father wanted to prosecute Kosciuszko for kidnapping his daughter. However, he didn’t get a chance to because Kosciuszko and Louise sailed to America in search of freedom to live their lives as they wished.
Upon arriving in Philadelphia, Kosciuszko met Benjamin Franklin, who learned about his engineering background and put him to work building forts. He supervised the construction of fortifications on the Delaware River that incorporated underwater barricades known as chevaux de fries, wooden beams with sharp tips that would rip open the bottom of British ships as they sailed toward Philadelphia. He did such a good job with his projects that John Hancock promoted him to an Army Colonel and named him the military’s chief engineer. Kosciuszko was sent to Fort Ticonderoga, where he cautioned the officers at the fort that they should send armies to Sugar Loaf Hill, a nearby bluff that overlooked the fort.
Read more here
