Foil: 62 Panel: 4 Column: 2 Line: 55

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:
David Summers

Krystyna Malinowska Wolanczyk's first encounter with an air force came on September 1, 1939, as German Luftwaffe aircraft flew across a bright blue sky on their way to bombard her native Poland. As a schoolgirl, she was at first excited to learn that her classes were cancelled. That same day, her cousin Zbigniew Kretkowski, newly enlisted into the Polish Army, was deployed to a cavalry unit in the countryside north of the city of Bia?‚ystok. The sight of three German Dornier aircraft was his signal that World War II had begun.

Zbigniew's military career took him to France, North Africa, and Scotland, then Canada where he trained as a pilot, and back to England where he joined the No. 300 bomber squadron attached to the RAF. He was killed in an air crash on June 21, 1943.

As a teenager, Krystyna took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Her path led her first to France, and then the United States. For forty years, she was a teacher of the Polish language at the Foreign Service Institute, preparing State and Defense Department personnel for assignment to the U.S. Embassy in Warsaw. Over that period, her students?€™ duties evolved from observation of activities by a member of the Warsaw Pact to cooperation with a valued NATO ally. Her students honor her dedicated contributions to that mission.