Making sure Polish Cavalry rides on

WESTFIELD - There are many true heroes in the Marine Corps League's 70,000-plus members, and associate member Maciej "Matt" Knas, of Westfield River Valley Detachment 141, is considered one.

Knas, of East Longmeadow, is admired even though he never wore the U.S. Marine Corps uniform nor that of any other organized military service.

Leading a troop of Polish Army Cavalry in reenactments of the German invasion of his homeland 70 years ago, Knas is much more than an actor when it comes to fighting for freedom.

Acting as a captain in the Polish Cavalry, Matt wears the same uniform that his grandfather, Marian Ciastko, wore as a Polish Army major cavalry officer in defiance of the invading Germans on Sept. 1, 1939.

Later, his grandfather and more than 100 cavalry members were trying to escape to Romania when their hiding place was pointed out to the Germans, resulting in their capture. Early in 1940, all 115 of them were executed by firing squad.

Knas' grandfather's body was recovered and identified by his dog tags in 1976 in a mass grave in the forest where the executions took place. He was reburied in a marked grave in a cemetery in the nearby town.

Born in Northern Poland in 1958 to a family that knew only oppression - from World War I, the Polish-Russian War in 1920, the German invasion in 1939 and the Communist takeover at the end of World War II - Knas grew up as a resister.

"In school, everything was fine until the state authorities forced us to abandon our traditional Boy Scout activities and join the newly-formed Communist version," he explained. "We said 'no,' but Hero: Polish troops fought for freedom

were told we could no longer wear our old uniforms. So in defiance we put on the new Scout uniforms and went to town and got drunk at a local tavern."

The next day, according to Knas, the authorities threw them out of the new Scout program and they rejoined their old Boy Scout program as everyone abandoned the Communist scout movement.

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