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Dear Editor,
On July 2, 2006, I returned from Poland after a business trip and on the plane I read and enjoyed your publication. I am of Irish descent and was born in New York City.

After planning my business trip, I bought several books about Poland because I knew very little about it. History books that I have read number in the thousands. I want to share with you my thoughts as to what Poland and its people have contributed to make the world a better place.

It starts in the 13th century when Poland prevented the Tartars from continuing westwards out of the Ukraine, which they then occupied. When the Ottoman Turks, in 1683, were on the verge of entering Vienna, Austria, after a lengthy siege, it was only Poland, under King [Jan III] Sobieski, that came to Austria's aid. His army soundly defeated the Turks and they were forced to return to Turkey. The conquest of Austria would have led to the occupation of Western Europe in its entirety by the Ottoman Turks.

The following shows that the actions of one man made a world of difference, and, as a result, made the world a better place to live in.

In July 1776, Britain's 13 colonies in North America declared their independence. The deciding battle was at Saratoga, New York, in October 1777. (...) Tadeusz Andrzej Kościuszko, who was born in the Polish province of Polesie on Feb. 4, 1746, came to Philadelphia in 1776. Because of Kościuszko's significant contribution to the American Revolutionary War, Thomas Jefferson said, "Tadeusz Kosciuszko was as pure a son of liberty as I have ever known." The following explains why.

Kościuszko was a skilled engineer. He attended school in Lubieszów and Warsaw and then completed his engineering studies in Paris. His ingenious design of the heights at Saratoga led to the surrender of 6,000 British troops and the ultimate victory of the colonists at this battle and the revolutionary war. After Saratoga, he undertook the defense of the Hudson River at West Point, New York, by constructing a 60-tonne chain across the river. The British Navy was prevented from traveling north, and, as a result, could not cut off the rebellious New England states from the other colonies. At the war's end, he was a Brigadier General. He returned to Poland to fight the occupying Russians. At the battle of Maciejowice in 1794, he was wounded 17 times, captured, and imprisoned for two years. He was freed by Czar Paul provided that he leave Poland. Upon his arrival in Philadelphia, appreciative Americans carried him on their shoulders. To thank him for his contributions to the revolutionary war, the U.S. government gave him 500 acres in present day Columbus, Ohio.

At the U.S. military academy located at West Point, there is a large statue of Kościuszko overlooking the Hudson River. The inscription explains how significant his contribution was, enabling the 13 colonies to win their independence. Thus, he may truly be one of the "fathers" of the United States of America. The 13 colonies won their independence in 1783 and a population of 3 million grew to a population of 300 million today. The victory at the battle of Saratoga, in which Kościuszko played a big part, is the reason there is a United States of America.

In the 18th century, Poland was partitioned among Russia, Prussia and Austria three times, but like a prize fighter, the country was down but not out. Throughout the 19th century, the Polish people revolted against their three occupiers. Finally in November 1918, Poland was reconstituted with the help of the Americans and their allies as a result of President Wilson's 14 Points. (This was partial "payback" for what Kościuszko did for the United States). The Bolsheviks had recently taken over Russia and had their eyes on a weakened Germany and Austria, which had recently signed a peace treaty ending WWI. To get to these two countries, the Russian army, controlled by the Bolsheviks, had to go through Poland. They were prevented from invading these two countries with the destruction in 1920 of the Russian army by Poland's army led by Marshal Józef Piłsudski. (...)

Once again Poland, in the 20th century, helped save Western civilization. Without the existence of the United States, the Germans and their allies would have won both WWI and WWII. The countries in Europe fighting the Germans and their allies needed the industrial and military might of the United States. The defeat of the Japanese in WWII also saved the continents of Asia and Australia from Japanese conquest. Therefore, many billions of people in three continents owe their freedom to the actions of a single Polish patriot in 1777.

Poland's contributions continued after WWII. Karol Wojtyła, who became Pope John Paul II in 1978, was ordained a priest in 1946 just as the Iron Curtain was descending across Eastern Europe. Lech Wałęsa, founder of the Solidarity movement that toppled communism in Poland in 1989-1990, stated that 50 percent of the collapse of communism in Poland, the Baltic countries, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, East Germany, Hungary and Romania was the Pope's doing. He did not call for an open uprising against communism. His prayer for the Holy Sprit to renew the face of the earth ended the mass he gave in Poland in 1979. This became a rallying cry for the Polish people and 10 million of them soon joined the Solidarity movement. Strikes in Gdańsk in late 1988 forced the Polish government to bargain in 1989. Freedom from the Soviet Union for millions in Eastern Europe was the result. Also, Western Europe benefited from the dissolution of the Soviet Union because the country was a military threat. A Polish Pope was the principal reason for the above.

Upon my return to the United States, I attended a dinner party with my five children and their spouses together with other family members. I spoke of my trip to Poland and of the conclusion I had reached that the world owes much to Poland and its people, and that my parents and millions of others would not have emigrated to the United States if it had not obtained its freedom. All agreed and we stood and raised our drinks to toast the contributions of the Polish people to the peace in the world today.
Joseph M. Walsh