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 This page is dedicated to how Poles have contributed to the greatness of America.  Ralph Modjeski Not a ramblin' wreck from Georgia Tech But helluva engineer
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Pole before Columbus Jan of Kolno, a Polish sea captain under the sponsorship of the King of Denmark reached Labrador and explored the Atlantic coast as far as Delaware in 1475. 17 years later Columbus finally got the Queen of Spain to bankroll his expedition. He stumbled across a couple of tiny islands in the Caribbean missing the large landmass, which is North America. So, maybe we should be calling the Capital of Ohio Jan instead of Columbus.
Sandusky Ohio Named After Pole
James Sadowski was the first white settler from the English colonies to have sailed the Mississippi to New Orleans, and from there to Baltimore. Another explorer Paul Mostowski of Warsaw in 1776 wanted to found New Poland in what are today the southern states. Instead of referring to that part of the country as Dixie as we do today, we might have been calling it Nowy Polska.  "I came here, where freedom is being defended, to serve it, and to live or die for it..." -- Count Casimir Pulaski
Casimir Pulaski, regarded as "the father of the American cavalry," gave his life for our liberty in Savannah, GA where his monument is now located. Born on March 4, 1747, in Winiary,
On Washington's recommendation, the Continental Congress appointed Pulaski general of the cavalry in 1777. But even before his formal appointment, he demonstrated his value. At the battle of Brandywine Creek, where Washington's forces suffered a defeat, Pulaski led a counterattack that covered the retreat of the Americans and helped prevent a military disaster.
Thaddeus Kosciusko is recognized specifically as the father of American military engineering, generally the father of American artillery and probably should be credited with the founding of West Point.
He made three key contributions to the eventual success of the American cause. The most notable was his role in the decisive battle of Saratoga where his fortifications led to the first major victory for the Americans and assured them of open French support. The second was his assignment to erect a permanent barrier on the Hudson against British attempts to split the Colonies. This was successfully accomplished on the heights at West Point where the U.S. Military Academy was subsequently established, in part at Kosciusko's recommendation. His third major contribution was The Academy's first manual on the use of mobile horse artillery. Congress granted him $15,000 and 500 acres of land in Franklin County, Ohio. He appointed his friend Thomas Jefferson to sell the land and appropriate the money to finance the education of free blacks.
Haym Solomon a Polish-born Jewish immigrant to America played an important role in financing the Revolution.
President Abraham Lincoln's proclamation called for 75,000 volunteers in Washington, D.C. under General Vladimir Krzyzanowski, who distinguished himself in the battle of Bull Run; Krzyzanowski, one of the finest Union officers, was later honored by Congress and is regarded as the most distinguished Pole of the Civil War.
Others fought in the ranks of the Union. Major Raszkowski's two Polish companies of the 31st New York state militia fought in Polish uniforms and Krzyzanowski's the 58th was dubbed as the Polish Legion. Colonel Vincent Sulakowski from Texas organized an army of 30,000 exiles for the Confederacy but there were no funds available for transport.
During the Civil War, at least 5000 Poles, one hundred and sixty officers among them, served in the Union army, along with General Victor Kochanowski who distinguished himself at the Battle of Gettysburg. Over 500 Poles died to preserve the Union and over 100 for the Confederacy.
The Poles who were fighting in the Union and Confederate armies were men of high ideals. Their military experience was of much value since most were commissioned officers as well as veterans of wars for freedom of past decades.
Civil War annals cannot pass by names like Joseph Karze, who was considered one of the best cavalry officers, and became a general in the Union Army; Allin F. Schoepf, a brigadier general who defeated the Confederates at Rock Hills in 1861; and Major Gaspard Tochman and Colonel Valery Sulakowski of the Confederate army.
Civil War Polish Legions
The Polish & World War II Born to Polish immigrant parents in Buffalo, NY, on August 25, 1919, Lt. Col. Matt Louis Urban has 
been recognized as the "most decorated American combat soldier of World War II." Urban was awarded a total of 29 decorations, virtually every combat medal possible, including seven Purple Hearts and the Congressional Medal of Honor.Lt. Col. Urban was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Jimmy Carter on July 19, 1980, and was properly recognized for his outstanding service to his country. While awarding Urban the Medal of Honor, President Carter identified him as the "most decorated American combat soldier of World War II." The U.S. Postal Service has been petitioned to recognize this brave Polish American by issuing a commemorative stamp in his honor in 2005.
USAF Greatest Ace - World War II 
Highest Concentration of Poles
Do you really think Harvard was 1st?
 [W. T. Benda] One of America's Greatest Illustrators
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Poles Preceed the Mayflower 
The early American Poles were artisans, responsible for the first strike in America. The occasion arose in 1619 when the House of Burgesses in Jamestown refused the right to vote to all those who were not of English stock; the Poles were accorded the same rights after a successful work stoppage. According to the Court Book of the Virginia Company of London on July 31, 1619, it was decided that "Upon some dispute of the Polonian residents in Virginia it was now agreed that they shall be enfranchised and made as free as any inhabitant there whatsoever."
Block Watch Concept -
If you lived through the late part of the 1970's when street crime had politicians talking about "Law & Order," but in their typical fashion didn't do squat like most politicians do, then you probably remember the name Curtis Sliwa the founder of the Guardian Angels.
Sliwa's driving force was motivated by his unadulterated intention to better his community.
In the late 70s, determined to take back the community, Curtis expanded his neighborhood program to patrol the Number 4 Train, one of the worst subway lines in New York City, then known as the "Mugger's Express."
Curtis armed these forerunners of The Guardian Angels with nothing more than common sense, self-control and martial arts training. He inspired communities to take responsibility, which resulted in the formation of what we now call Neighborhood Watch Groups.
As his original thirteen grew to be hundreds, a more organized structure was needed, resulting in the birth of The Guardian Angels in February 1979. The Guardian Angels has grown to 25 chapters throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, Brazil and Japan.
The red beret, first worn to symbolize courage, has become a worldwide icon for safety education. Curtis is recognized as one of the most effective and respected grass roots leaders and activists of the past quarter century.
John Gotti Jr. tried two hits on Sliwa. Curtis pulled through. Untouched the first time, serious wounds the second. Sliwa is now the Morning Talk Host on legendary WABC Radio in NYC.
Polish - American family carves
Could anyone but a Pole truly appreciate the plight of the Native American enough to dedicate his life and his legacy to create a monument of such grandeur and enormity that it will dwarf in size the four great U.S. Presidents residing nearby? All without taking a single penny of federal or other public money.
 When completed the Crazy Horse mountain carving will be nearly 40 percent higher than the Owens-Illinois skyscraper located in downtown Toledo rising more than 560 feet.
Hollywood and Its Poles
Hollywood has been filled with people of Polish descent including Samual Goldwyn (the "G" in MGM) Lauren Becal, Gloria Swanson, Stephanie Powers, Roman Polanski, Lee Lee Soblewski and others, but none as celebrated as Billy Wilder who died in 2002 at the age of 95.
The Magnificent Modjeski
Chances are you've been across one
Here's a little know fact about Ralph's mom: she was such a great international star of the theater she often found herself invited to dinner parties thrown by the filthy rich. At one such dinner in New York City, she brought the entire room to tears dramatically reciting the Polish alphabet, which they mistook for some passage of a classic tragedy.
Marie Zakrzewska - Medicine Woman
Marie Zakrzewska emigrated to New York in March 1853. During her first year in America she found little support for a career in medicine among the male practitioners she met. She enrolled at a traditionally all-male medical school, Cleveland's Western Reserve College, in 1854. She was one of only six women admitted to the school during the 1850s.
Sunny Catalina 1st Named for Pole
Rouissillon was said to have been a member of an "ancient noble family of Poland," a strong believer in individual liberty who rejected the disciplined life of his native land. He became acquainted with Shaler and Cleveland in Hamburg, Germany.
Although his name is not even mentioned in the geography of California, it has been assumed that he was a Polish count living incognito. With this disguise, so to speak, he was able to avoid any encounters that might have occurred with enemies. California attracted many Poles during the 1840's and 1850's. Earlier settlers were immigrant veterans from Polish uprisings, while the period of the gold rush "became the spark which released the great influx of the Polish Peasant or economic immigration to this country."
Panna Maria
Father Leo Moczygemba, a Polish missionary, began preaching to scattered immigrants around Bandera Texas in the 1840s after Texas Declaired Independence from Mexico, but before it was annixed into the United States in 1845. After witnessing the successes of his German parishioners, he decided that his fellow Poles would thrive in Texas as well.
In 1854, the first group of immigrants arrived - including Father Leo's four brothers. The trip from Poland via Germany took a harrowing three-months. On Christmas Eve, 1854 the Poles huddled together in the cold and Mass was held under the Live Oak trees that stand today in the Panna Maria churchyard.
Today the town has a population of only 96. However, the number of Polish-Americans in Houston, Austin and other Texas cities is amazingly large. [Click Here] for the Houston Polonia Website.
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World War II  Polish Contibutions in winning World War II
Battle of Britain
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His two sons, James II and Joseph, distinguished
themselves in the history of the state of Kentucky as companions of Daniel Boone.
They were the first to enter the unknown lands. In 1774 the brothers sailed with about forty men down the Ohio and the Monongahela rivers and camped at the site of modern day Cincinnati, Ohio.
As night manager of the local McDonald's, Curtis instituted a community clean-up program supported and blessed by the company. Local volunteers dubbed the "Rock Brigade," painted over graffiti, cleaned up vacant lots, boarded up vacant buildings and planted trees and gardens in the Fordham neighborhood.
in the Black Hills of South Dakota just 17 miles from Mount Rushmore. Korczak Ziolkowski began the project in 1948 sheltered in nothing more than a surplus army tent. Although Korczak died in 1982, his widow Ruth and their family continue the project which will take another generation to complete.
One of the most prolific Hollywood directors was 6 time Oscar winner 
of his bridges. The great Ambassador Bridge connecting Detroit with Windsor, Ontario - yep, that's one of his spans. Oh, you want a longer one? Drive over the San Francisco Bay Bridge. Its twice as long as the Golden Gate. And, the next time you're in the City of Brotherly Love try the Ben Franklin bridge on for size. He is noted for for the number, variety, and innovative character of his projects.
opened doors to women physicians who were excluded from clinical training opportunities at male-run hospitals, by establishing the first hospital in Boston and the second hospital in America run by women, the New England Hospital for Women and Children.
In California, 19th Century Spanish authorities were extremely apprehensive and resentful of strangers entering their land. Consequently, if a ship was forced to undergo repairs on their shores, it was immediately captured along with the cargo. American sailors, therefore, became cautious and welcomed sites that were isolated and peaceful to repair their ships. So it happened that William Shaler and Richard Cleveland, merchant-adventurers of New England, discovered a site on Catalina Island where they could safely make rush repairs. This area was yet unnamed. Hence, Shaler and Cleveland christened it Port Rouissillon. Who or what was Rouissillon?
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