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 Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady Queen in Silver Spring, MD |  Inside the church |
Walesa Receives Flowers At Polish Mass. Solidarity founder, and former President of Poland, Lech Walesa is shown below at Our Lady Queen of Poland Parish Church in Silver Spring, Maryland on September 25, 2005. He is very pleased to be receiving flowers from folk-costumed children of the church's Polish Language School and uniformed members of the Polish Boy/Girl Scouts. At right is a beaming Ks. Klemens Dobrowski, the pastor, who celebrated the mass. Also introduced to the congregation was the Honorable Janusz Reiter, Poland's Ambassador to the U.S. The Polish American Congress, Washington Metro Area Division, guided by Thaddeus Mirecki, organized the special mass to commemorate the many, many thousands of victims of a belligerent Nazi Germany and the treacherous, communist Soviet Union, both of whom invaded Poland in September of 1939. And thus began World War II and 6 of the most bloody and tumultuous years in Poland's and Europe's millennia, ushering in a very dark period of time never to be forgotten or forgiven by the Polish people.
 Walesa receives flowers from children |  Walesa in group photo of church parishioners |
Polonia and Poland Surround Walesa. Lech Walesa is at the center of the above group photo (right) taken after the mass at our Lady Queen of Poland Parrish Church in Silver Spring, Maryland on September 25, 2005. Flanking Walesa is Polish Brigadier General Kazimierz Sikorski, Attaché Millitaire (center/left), and Polish Ambassador Janusz Reiter (center/right) who is holding a rose presented to him at the mass by the parish youths. Totally surrounding Walesa is a large, diverse group of adoring people consisting of the clergy and altar boys, parishioners, guests, Embassy of the Republic of Poland officials and military attaches, Polish Legion of American Veterans, and the parish youth groups--all basking in a real moment of living history.
Baltimore, Md., October 2, 2005
text and photographs by Richard P. Poremski, contact the author by e-mail
This article was published originally in Polish American Journal, Buffalo, NY.
Check the second part of the report from Walesa visit: Lech Walesa Visits Washington - Saluting PLAV Members & Delivering Speech in American Congress during Luncheon.
Check more articles about Polish army nowadays Polish Military Zone in Iraq , read also selection of articles devoted to Polish history.
The Polish Revolution: Solidarity (Third Edition)
I recommend a book written by Rebecca Stefoff entitled
Lech Walesa: The Road to Democracy (Great Lives)
Check also autobiographical book entitled:
The Struggle and the Triumph: An Autobiography
by Lech Walesa, Arkadiusz Rybicki (Contributor), Franklin Phillip (Editor)
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