born: July 29, 1925 in Kaunas, Lithuania
died: August 20, 1997 in Washington DC, USA
buried: Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church Cemetery, Forest Glen, Maryland, USA
parents: father Witold, mother Tatiana nee Smirnow
husband: Jerzy Aleksander Zapadko-Mirski (1924-1998) – also soldier of Polish 2nd Corps; married in Rome in 1946
medals: Polish: Silver Virtuti Militari Cross (September 1944), Silver Cross of Merit with Swords (June 1944), Cross of Valour (August 1944)
Fates before joining Anders Army :
Her parents owned a landed estate in Kaunas, Lithuania. Janina Lutyk received her initial education at home, then she was a student at the Adam Mickiewicz Junior High School in Kaunas. In 1938, the family moved to Warsaw, where she continued her education at the Juliusz Słowacki Junior and High School.
During World War II, Janina Lutyk served in the underground from 1940 as a scout in the Small Sabotage “Wawer”. From 1943, introduced by her brother to the newly formed Kedyw, she was the first liaison officer of the 2nd “Agat” Platoon as “Scarlett”, then a liaison officer of the 2nd “Parasol” Company.
In May 1944, “Scarlett” graduated with the first place in the female class of the “Agricola” conspiracy Cadet School, with the rank of platoon officer cadet. She achieved very good results in shooting exercises. As one of the best, she was appointed to the weapons instructors course, she was the instructor of the “Belweder” School of Lower Commanders.
As a liaison and intelligence officer of the 2nd Platoon, she conducted reconnaissance before many combat operations. She took part in them, delivering weapons and documents to the participants and collecting them from them.
She passed her final High School exams in 1944 in underground Polish school and began studies at the Faculty of Architecture of the secret Warsaw University of Technology.
In the Warsaw Uprising, she walked the entire combat trail in the 2nd platoon of the 2nd company “Parasol”, three times passing through the underground sewers with the troops. At the end of September 1944, she was in a group of 200 people who went through the sewers to Mokotów. On September 25, 1944, after 17 hours of wandering around the sewers, she walked in the “Parasol” group of girls from Mokotów to Śródmieście district of Warsaw. After that, she fell ill with pneumonia. After the capitulation of Warsaw, she left the city with the civilian population.
She stayed in Częstochowa for several months. At the beginning of 1945, she returned to Warsaw. She participated in the exhumation of fallen friends and preparation of their quarters at Warsaw’s Powązki Cemetery.
Arrested by the Security Office, she managed to escape and reached Italy through Czechoslovakia.
Military history:
On October 14, 1945, she joined the ranks of the 17th Auxiliary Company of the Women’s Military Service of the 2nd Polish Corps. On February 18, 1946, she was delegated to study engineering in Bologna, and then in Rome. There she married her commander from “Parasol”, Lieutenant Jerzy Aleksander Zapadko.
After the transfer of the 2nd Polish Corps to Great Britain, she continued her studies at the Faculty of Civil Engineering of the Polish University College in London and graduated with an engineering diploma in 1951.
Post-War:
The Zapadko couple lived in Great Britain in very difficult material conditions. In 1954, Janina and her husband left for the USA, to Washington. She worked as an engineer-constructor. She was an expert at constructing earthquake-proof buildings.
Serving charity for Poland – i.e. for the Institution for the Blind in Laski and the Institution Brother Albert and financially supporting former “Parasol” soldiers, at the same time, together with her husband, she carried out lively social activity among the Polish American community. She worked in the Polish American Congress and took a managerial position in the US Veterans Administration /Department of Veterans Affairs/.
In the 90s, being retired, she was the president of the Cultural Foundation of the Polish Combatants Association in Washington.
She participated in the work of the John Paul II Foundation, actively supported the campaign to save women suffering from breast cancer, led by Irena Koźmińska, wife of the Polish ambassador to the USA.
In 1994, she and her husband visited Warsaw on the anniversary of the outbreak of the Warsaw Uprising.
She died suddenly on August 21, 1997 of a heart attack. She was buried in Washington.
