EXEMPLARY SOLDIER

In the early 1970s, Polish television programs for children and teenagers often promoted the military and military service. This was especially noticeable in Teleranek ("Sunday Morning"), one of the most popular youth programs of the era. The promotion of military values was particularly visible when episodes of the hugely popular television series Four Tank-Men and a Dog (Czterej pancerni i pies) were broadcast. Before each episode, a young, uniformed and impeccably disciplined army officer would appear on screen and solemnly announce that he was "ordering" viewers to watch every episode of the series. Today this sounds rather amusing, but at the time such messages were treated quite seriously.

Exemplary Soldier – an honorary title and badge awarded to soldiers of the Polish Army in the years 1950–2010.

One related initiative involved displaying photographs sent in by viewers showing fathers, grandfathers, and other family members who had been honoured during their military service with a commemorative photograph taken in front of their unit's ceremonial flag. My father, who had also completed his mandatory military service, often mentioned that he had received some sort of military distinction, and it is quite possible that this pin was connected with that recognition. Unfortunately, television only showed the photographs, not the medals or awards themselves, so I could never impress my friends with having his name mentioned on TV!

"Korpusówka" (Corps) – the colloquial name for the insignia of a personnel corps in the Polish Army and other uniformed services. It is the insignia of the armored forces in Poland.

I know that my father served in an armoured unit. He commanded several tanks, probably as a platoon commander, and often told me stories about these machines. As a boy, I dreamed of climbing inside a real tank. I finally got my chance in the mid-1970s when a film was being shot about soldiers of General Berling's Polish Army fighting on the eastern bank of the Vistula River and attempting to cross it to help the Warsaw Uprising of 1944.

The Polish People's Army (Polish: Ludowe Wojsko Polskie), was the second formation of the Polish Armed Forces in the East during the latter stages of the Second World War (1943–1945), and subsequently the armed forces of the Polish communist state (1945–1989), which was formalized in 1952 as the Polish People's Republic.

The "Berling Army" was the Soviet-backed Polish Army formed in the USSR during World War II. In September 1944, some of its units attempted to cross the Vistula River to aid the Warsaw Uprising, suffering heavy losses in the process.

Several T-34 tanks, fully operational despite being used as movie props, stood along the riverbank. Every now and then the soldier guarding them would allow local children to climb inside. I must admit that the interior of a tank is definitely not a place for anyone suffering from claustrophobia! I was thrilled to have the opportunity to explore one from the inside, but I was also surprised by how cramped the crew compartment was.

Around the same time, my father was learning to drive a car and was having some difficulty passing his driving test.

"You were able to drive a tank, yet you're having trouble driving a car?" the instructor asked him.

My father replied:

"When you drove a tank, there were no traffic lights, road signs, intersections, or speed limits. And you didn't have to worry too much about trees either—one more or one less didn't make much difference. You simply drove straight ahead!"

Fortunately, he eventually passed the test. As far as I know, he never had a serious accident during the rest of his life. And I don't think he ever 'collected' any trees along the way either!

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