By Jim Buchanan
A group of Polish air defense personnel fresh from training on the Patriot missile system at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama recently visited Jackson County to take in the sights and to honor an important connection to their mission.
That connection is the late Julian Zdzislaw Starostecki, whose son, Andrew, lives in Whittier.
The elder Starostecki, who passed away in 2010, is a legend in Poland and in corners of the U.S. defense industry. He fought the invasion of Poland by German forces that began on Sept. 1, 1939, and the Russian invasion that began Sept. 17 that same year. Captured by the Russians, he survived two years in a gulag gold mine in Siberia before being released by the Russians, who by that time had been invaded by Germany.
He joined the Polish armed forces in exile, trained in the Middle East and saw serious combat action in Italy, notably during the bloody battle of Monte Cassino in which Polish forces were the linchpin in breaching the German “Winter Line.”
He nearly lost a leg to a sniper in the waning days of the war. After rehabilitation, he came to the U.S. in 1952 and earned his engineering degree. With that in hand he worked on systems such as the TOW and Stinger missiles, and designed the warhead for the Patriot missile, an anti-missile defense system widely regarded as the best in its class on the planet. For that work he received a commendation from the U.S. Congress and a personal letter of appreciation from then-President Bill Clinton.
His story is not familiar to most Americans but is the stuff of legend in Poland, and while visiting stateside the Polish military team visited Julian’s son Andrew. The group enjoyed toasts, camaraderie and a taste of local flavor ranging from a tour of the library complex to BBQ at the Haywood Smokehouse to a dip in Deep Creek taken by the “Polar Bear” contingent of the group. (“They loved how clean the water is,” Starostecki said).
In more serious business, the importance of the Patriot system to Polish defenses became a priority of emphasis as war drums grew louder to their east. Such units have been manned by U.S. personnel in the past, but Polish forces will now be manning the systems. With the invasion of Ukraine by Russia last year, and also an incident last year when a stray missile from that conflict crossed the Polish border and killed two civilians, air defenses are understandably a top Polish priority.
While Julian Starostecki’s tale is in the shadows of history here, it’s quite prominent and alive in Poland. The visiting group’s meeting with Andrew contained one very special toast – the one at Andrew’s home acknowledging his father’s official promotion to general by the Polish legislature and president, and the naming of the air defense system for the entire country in his honor.
