Francis Joseph Philips
My Grandfather Francis Joseph Philips (Franciszek Józef) was born on 10 November 1909 in Stanislau (Polish Stanisławów, today Ukrainian Ivano Frankivsk), in Galicia, which was a part of the Austrian – Hungarian Empire. Hence it is easy to guess that the names Franz Joseph was given in honor of the reigning emperor of Austria - Franz Joseph I. In 1927 he married Wanda Józefa Bartoszewska, with whom he lived in Stanislau in Wyspianski 17 Street Wyspianski 17 (today Odessa Str. in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine). He was mobilized to the Polish army on Aug. 27, 1939 year, as a soldier of the 48 Infantry Rifle Regiment in Stanislau. From 3 September 1939 to 16 September 1939 he took part in the fighting against German aggressors fighting under Bochnia, Zamosc, Janowiec, Tomaszów Lubelski, entering into the composition of the 16 Tarnów Infantry Regiment. After the aggression of the Soviet troops in eastern Poland on 17 September 1939, he was captured by the Soviet Union and was imprisoned in the...