Born: March 28, 1921, in Warszawice (pow. Garwolin, woj. warszawskie, Poland)
Died: November 8, 2020 in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
Family: father Ignacy
Military Medals: Polish: Krzyż Walecznych (twice), Brązowy Krzyż Zasługi z Mieczami, Medal Wojska, Krzyż Pamiątkowy Monte Cassino; Italian: Al Valore Militare.
Fates before joining Anders Army : In 1940, Jan, his father, mother, 3 sisters and a younger brother were all arrested and sentenced to five years of hard labour in the gulag. They were deported to the area near the White Sea in northern Russia. They were given saws and told to build themselves shelters. First they just built rough shelters using branches and later they built log houses.
Military history: After the amnesty, they were advised to leave and to go south towards Buzuluk. When they arrived in Buzuluk, they found it was full to capacity, so they were advised to go further south. At some point Jan was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 3rd Carpathian Infantry Division, and was sent for officer’s training. By the time he was in Italy he was a 2nd Lieutenant. He fought at Monte Cassino and Ancona. Somewhere in the Apennines he was hit by artillery fire and lost an eye.
Post-War: He left Italy for England and then came to Canada on a two-year farm contract. While working on a farm he almost lost the other eye, but a good doctor said, that he could not return to the farm. Jan moved to Toronto in 1949 and worked for DeHavilland for almost 30 years. In 2018, he was living at the Wawel Villa Retirement Residences in Mississauga.
For an interview with Jan Gregalis see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eSQaQ0Zqaw8
author : Stan Skrzeszewski
source : “Book of Remembrance / Książka Pamięci”, Polish Combatant’s Association, Branch 2. London, Ontario, Canada, 2018.
