The Importance of Boy Scout Training
As a former child soldier who fought in the Warsaw Uprising, I am often asked to give talks at high schools or otherwise provide lessons for today’s youth. The one thing I like to focus on is that there is a cost to freedom, and that freedom is worth dying for.
Things now are very different than they were when I was growing up in Poland in the 1940s. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939 to start World War II, I was a 10-year-old Boy Scout, and I wanted to fight to defend my country. There was not much I could do then, of course, but two years later my Scoutmaster recruited me into the clandestine Underground Army. I worked as a courier in the Underground while training on weapons handling and military tactics.
By 15, I had survived capture, imprisonment and interrogation by the Gestapo, and had become a Commando in the Underground Army. I fought in the Warsaw Uprising against the Germans—it was two months of combat, the most vicious building-to-building, street-by-street fighting, in which we were outnumbered and outgunned. I ended the war in a German POW camp.
In America today, this is unheard of for a child, I know. It is a sign of the times and how bad things were. I wanted to do whatever I could to defeat the Germans who occupied our country. They instituted a true reign of terror—rounding up and killing people at random, segregating friends based on religion, controlling access to information, rationing the food on our tables, destroying homes and families.
The drive to be a soldier can come from a lot of places. For me, it was witnessing the atrocities around me and knowing in my gut they were not right. Before I was officially a soldier I did whatever I could to thwart the Germans. I would remove signs so they would get lost and drive in circles. One time a friend of mine and I held up a German soldier to steal his pistol. Another friend built a bomb of his own.
There was a feeling of desperation then. I couldn’t get into the Ghetto, which the Germans had established to segregate Jewish people, to see my girlfriend. Not knowing if she and her family were okay was hard. My uncle was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where he died.
The training to be a soldier can come from a few places, as well. The training I got as a Boy Scout certainly helped prepare me for being a soldier. There were lessons in tracking, camping, exploring, and even more specific military drills. By the time the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, we Scouts already had some preparation to help defend our families and our nation.
The Code of Honor that comes with being a Scout and the “do a good deed daily” motto helped us provide assistance to those trying to escape the Germans.
Beyond the practical skills we learned, being in the Scouts also taught me to be self-reliant and self-confident. This made me strong and fearless when approaching new and dangerous situations. Over the years the specific types of training the Scouts teach may have changed, but the values they impart are important and timeless.
Things now are very different than they were when I was growing up in Poland in the 1940s. When the Germans invaded Poland in September 1939 to start World War II, I was a 10-year-old Boy Scout, and I wanted to fight to defend my country. There was not much I could do then, of course, but two years later my Scoutmaster recruited me into the clandestine Underground Army. I worked as a courier in the Underground while training on weapons handling and military tactics.
By 15, I had survived capture, imprisonment and interrogation by the Gestapo, and had become a Commando in the Underground Army. I fought in the Warsaw Uprising against the Germans—it was two months of combat, the most vicious building-to-building, street-by-street fighting, in which we were outnumbered and outgunned. I ended the war in a German POW camp.
In America today, this is unheard of for a child, I know. It is a sign of the times and how bad things were. I wanted to do whatever I could to defeat the Germans who occupied our country. They instituted a true reign of terror—rounding up and killing people at random, segregating friends based on religion, controlling access to information, rationing the food on our tables, destroying homes and families.
The drive to be a soldier can come from a lot of places. For me, it was witnessing the atrocities around me and knowing in my gut they were not right. Before I was officially a soldier I did whatever I could to thwart the Germans. I would remove signs so they would get lost and drive in circles. One time a friend of mine and I held up a German soldier to steal his pistol. Another friend built a bomb of his own.
There was a feeling of desperation then. I couldn’t get into the Ghetto, which the Germans had established to segregate Jewish people, to see my girlfriend. Not knowing if she and her family were okay was hard. My uncle was arrested and sent to Auschwitz, where he died.
The training to be a soldier can come from a few places, as well. The training I got as a Boy Scout certainly helped prepare me for being a soldier. There were lessons in tracking, camping, exploring, and even more specific military drills. By the time the Germans invaded Poland in 1939, we Scouts already had some preparation to help defend our families and our nation.
The Code of Honor that comes with being a Scout and the “do a good deed daily” motto helped us provide assistance to those trying to escape the Germans.
Beyond the practical skills we learned, being in the Scouts also taught me to be self-reliant and self-confident. This made me strong and fearless when approaching new and dangerous situations. Over the years the specific types of training the Scouts teach may have changed, but the values they impart are important and timeless.
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