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I have been quite busy and unable to write the memoir for some time—and now when I write, I am looking back on what I have previously written. Part of what I wanted to include in this next part is a Yad Vashem Page of Testimony for my Great-Granduncle Bernie, and that is part of what I was doing in the past couple of days—that is, submitting a form for him. Great-Granduncle Bernie's story heavily factors in his brother Anthony's and in-law-sister Mary's story—in fact, it's probably part of why Great-Granddad committed suicide.
As I wrote, Great-Grandma was not treated well. As I also wrote, the disabled were also not treated well—and Great-Granduncle Bernie certainly was not. In fact, I should have scanned in that stupid letter from the Department of Veterans' Affairs—hello, DVA—with all due respect, I am Great-Granduncle Bernie's "next of kin"!
As you have figured out by now, Great-Granduncle Bernie was a disabled and disrespected veteran—and two of his primary disrespecters gave Pop-Pop an idea for what to do to Great-Grandma. Ironically enough (or perhaps not so ironically), one of his disrespecters was a fellow Jewish war veteran—and none other than Staff Sergeant Joseph Paschal Czarnecki, Sr. (and I am not sorry, Charmaine and Courtney—I am not skating around that fact for your sakes. As I have stated, I will certainly talk about your dad and granddad since I talked about your uncle and granduncle Tony—and if you did not get the memo by now, let me remind you that I did not skate around any facts for your cousin Greg's maternal side, either.).
The other of the two aforementioned primary disrespecter was duty shirker John Felix Czarnecki (By the way, can you guess for whom Pop-Pop got his name—and even became like? In this case, a name does mean something in terms of character.). At least to his credit, however, Great-Granduncle John (who was born in 1913 and could have easily served during World War Two) shirked his duty to do so—at least he did not sign up and tarnish any service by what he did to his brother Bernie.
"'It's a shame what they did to Bernie.'" Granduncle Tony recalled hearing this at Great-Granduncle Bernie's funeral—and darned right that it's a shame. The self-loathing Jewish veteran and his self-loathing brother decided to take advantage of a Holocaust victim—namely, their fellow veteran Private First Class Bernard S. "Bernie" Czarnecki. How Great-Granddad could live with this is part of why I stated that he probably factored it into his suicide—after all, his youngster brother died on July 16, 1963; and he died on December 2, 1964 (almost a year and a quarter of a year after his brother succumbed to his Nazi-inflicted wounds).
Great-Granduncle Bernie signed up in Kingston, Pennsylvania on February 17, 1941 to serve in the 111th Infantry Division Medical Corps of the United States Army, having previously signed up on December 12, 1940. While Great-Granduncle Bernie was in combat, a Nazi bastard fired off some shrapnel that went into his head (whether the Nazi bastard directly or indirectly murdered Great-Granduncle Bernie, I do not know. All I know is the obvious—that it sure was not friendly fire, and that whoever murdered Great-Granduncle Bernie was a Nazi whether he was officially a Nazi, an Italian Nazi collaborator, or another European who collaborated with the Nazis.).
An operation to remove the shrapnel from Great-Granduncle Bernie's head failed—and that was the beginning of the end for Great-Granduncle Bernie.Great-Granduncle Bernie was confined to the Veterans' Home and Hospital and Lebanon, Pennsylvania for the rest of his life—from his discharge on December 12, 1945 to when he finally succumbed to his Nazi-inflicted wounds. He could never marry and have children, and was very childlike himself—he even would, for example, buy hot dogs for Granduncle Tony and his other nephews (and his nieces) if Great-Grandma said, "No." (It was basically, "If Mom says 'No.', ask Uncle Bernie."—and children will be children, and at least "Uncle Bernie" was not one of those gone-deranged mentally-disabled veterans.).
His widowed sister, Alexandria Alice Czarnecki Dombroski, took care of him by, for instance, setting up a Social Security account for him—and she would get the benefits from the Social Security account when he died. After all, she was a widowed mother and had already taken care of everyone else in her life—she was now stepping up to take care of Great-Granduncle Bernie (once again; as she had helped her mother do so when Julian Czarnecki died—when Bernie was only two years of age—, and as she had done when her mother died on April 6, 1936—when Bernie was only 16 years of age).
Great-Granduncles John and Joe cajoled Great-Granduncle Bernie into signing away the account from their sister Alice, and the benefits went to them when he died. Again, "'It's a shame what they did to Bernie.'" It's also a shame what they did to Alice.
Honestly, nobody should have been surprised that Great-Granddad Czarnecki would commit suicide after that—living with what "Johnkie" and "Suzy" did to "Bernie" would have alone driven someone to commit suicide, and that Great-Grandaunt Alice was not the one who committed suicide is amazing. After all, how could one live in a callous world in which Jews loathed themselves, took advantage of a Jewish war veteran and Holocaust victim, and left widows and left-alone mothers who had already taken care of so many people bereft?
As I wrote, Great-Grandma was not treated well. As I also wrote, the disabled were also not treated well—and Great-Granduncle Bernie certainly was not. In fact, I should have scanned in that stupid letter from the Department of Veterans' Affairs—hello, DVA—with all due respect, I am Great-Granduncle Bernie's "next of kin"!
As you have figured out by now, Great-Granduncle Bernie was a disabled and disrespected veteran—and two of his primary disrespecters gave Pop-Pop an idea for what to do to Great-Grandma. Ironically enough (or perhaps not so ironically), one of his disrespecters was a fellow Jewish war veteran—and none other than Staff Sergeant Joseph Paschal Czarnecki, Sr. (and I am not sorry, Charmaine and Courtney—I am not skating around that fact for your sakes. As I have stated, I will certainly talk about your dad and granddad since I talked about your uncle and granduncle Tony—and if you did not get the memo by now, let me remind you that I did not skate around any facts for your cousin Greg's maternal side, either.).
The other of the two aforementioned primary disrespecter was duty shirker John Felix Czarnecki (By the way, can you guess for whom Pop-Pop got his name—and even became like? In this case, a name does mean something in terms of character.). At least to his credit, however, Great-Granduncle John (who was born in 1913 and could have easily served during World War Two) shirked his duty to do so—at least he did not sign up and tarnish any service by what he did to his brother Bernie.
"'It's a shame what they did to Bernie.'" Granduncle Tony recalled hearing this at Great-Granduncle Bernie's funeral—and darned right that it's a shame. The self-loathing Jewish veteran and his self-loathing brother decided to take advantage of a Holocaust victim—namely, their fellow veteran Private First Class Bernard S. "Bernie" Czarnecki. How Great-Granddad could live with this is part of why I stated that he probably factored it into his suicide—after all, his youngster brother died on July 16, 1963; and he died on December 2, 1964 (almost a year and a quarter of a year after his brother succumbed to his Nazi-inflicted wounds).
Great-Granduncle Bernie signed up in Kingston, Pennsylvania on February 17, 1941 to serve in the 111th Infantry Division Medical Corps of the United States Army, having previously signed up on December 12, 1940. While Great-Granduncle Bernie was in combat, a Nazi bastard fired off some shrapnel that went into his head (whether the Nazi bastard directly or indirectly murdered Great-Granduncle Bernie, I do not know. All I know is the obvious—that it sure was not friendly fire, and that whoever murdered Great-Granduncle Bernie was a Nazi whether he was officially a Nazi, an Italian Nazi collaborator, or another European who collaborated with the Nazis.).
An operation to remove the shrapnel from Great-Granduncle Bernie's head failed—and that was the beginning of the end for Great-Granduncle Bernie.Great-Granduncle Bernie was confined to the Veterans' Home and Hospital and Lebanon, Pennsylvania for the rest of his life—from his discharge on December 12, 1945 to when he finally succumbed to his Nazi-inflicted wounds. He could never marry and have children, and was very childlike himself—he even would, for example, buy hot dogs for Granduncle Tony and his other nephews (and his nieces) if Great-Grandma said, "No." (It was basically, "If Mom says 'No.', ask Uncle Bernie."—and children will be children, and at least "Uncle Bernie" was not one of those gone-deranged mentally-disabled veterans.).
His widowed sister, Alexandria Alice Czarnecki Dombroski, took care of him by, for instance, setting up a Social Security account for him—and she would get the benefits from the Social Security account when he died. After all, she was a widowed mother and had already taken care of everyone else in her life—she was now stepping up to take care of Great-Granduncle Bernie (once again; as she had helped her mother do so when Julian Czarnecki died—when Bernie was only two years of age—, and as she had done when her mother died on April 6, 1936—when Bernie was only 16 years of age).
Great-Granduncles John and Joe cajoled Great-Granduncle Bernie into signing away the account from their sister Alice, and the benefits went to them when he died. Again, "'It's a shame what they did to Bernie.'" It's also a shame what they did to Alice.
Honestly, nobody should have been surprised that Great-Granddad Czarnecki would commit suicide after that—living with what "Johnkie" and "Suzy" did to "Bernie" would have alone driven someone to commit suicide, and that Great-Grandaunt Alice was not the one who committed suicide is amazing. After all, how could one live in a callous world in which Jews loathed themselves, took advantage of a Jewish war veteran and Holocaust victim, and left widows and left-alone mothers who had already taken care of so many people bereft?
