born: February 4, 1916 in Volhynia, Poland
died: March 26, 2008 in Rancho Cordova, Sacramento, California, USA
buried: Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw – Polish Armed Forces in the West section
parents: father Franciszek, mother Antonina
wife: Laine Adissoo; Helena Rosińska
medals: Polish: Virtuti Militari Cross, Polonia Restituta Medal, Knight’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta and many Polish, British and American medals
Fates before joining Anders Army :
As a youth, he worked on a family farm in Volhynia. He attended a cavalry school before World War II. He took part in the September campaign of 1939, including the battle of Tomaszów Mazowiecki. In 1940, he was arrested by the Soviets in Polish Eastern Borderlands (Kresy) and transported to a labor camp in the Arkhangelsk region, where he lived in dire conditions. He was tortured for organizing a prisoner revolt. After the announcement of the so called “amnesty” he managed to get out of captivity and join the Polish Armed Forces in the USSR.
Military history:
He joined the Anders Army in Uzbekistan as a volunteer. Soldier of the Polish 2nd Corps. He went through the entire combat trail with it, including the Battle of Monte Cassino. In 1946, together with the 2nd Corps, he was transported to Great Britain, where he ended his service in the Polish Army.
Post-War:
After demobilization in England, he met his future wife, Laine Adissoo, an emigrant from Estonia, at a party in the Whitley camp. They married in November 1947 and immigrated to Vancouver, Canada in 1951. Czesław started working there as a carpenter. In the 1950s, the family grew by 4 sons. In 1961, they moved to California, where Czesław Zawilski continued to work as a carpenter in San Francisco. He cared very much about the education of his sons, traveled a lot around the world. He also visited Poland.
After the death of Laine Adissoo, he remarried to a longtime friend and also a veteran – Helena Rosińska. They moved to Rancho Cordova, also living in Warsaw for half a year.
An active Polish community activist in San Francisco. For many years, he was the president of the Polish Combatants Association in San Francisco, whose wife Helena was the secretary.
He founded the Foundation for Helping Sick Children in Poland. He supported hospitals in Warsaw and Zamość.
He died in March 2008 in Sacramento, California, and was buried on June 12, 2008 in Warsaw at the Powązki Military Cemetery in the Polish Armed Forces in the West section.
